Strange Capers
by theshadowcat
Summary: Stephen Strange is still learning about being Master of the New York Sanctum and the Cloak of Levitation. How smart is his relic and how devoted to its Master is it?
1. Surprise Guest

**Author's Notes** : This story is based on the movie and the movie only. Please do not get on my case about something that happened in the comics, but didn't happen in the movie. Also, this will contain some major spoilers. If you work in the medical field and I get any terminology wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks for reading!

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own anything but my original characters. I am not making any money off of this and hopefully Marvel/Disney lawyers have something better to do than come after me.

* * *

Doctor Stephen Strange floated several feet off of the ground, the Cloak of Levitation gently billowed around him. His breathing was slow and even and his legs crisscrossed as if he were sitting on the ground. Ever since he had become the Master of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum, he had taken up meditating.

However, he didn't normally it do it in the middle of the night. He hadn't been able to sleep and had hoped that meditating would help quiet his mind enough to get some rest. Unfortunately, peace wasn't coming to him easily. He had a feeling something was about to happen, but he wasn't sure what.

If his eyes had been open, he could have looked out the upper most Sanctum window and looked over the darkened buildings of Greenwich Village. The room of relics behind him had been cleaned up and the cases restored with the help of the Eye of Agamotto. The relics had all been returned to their spots with the exception of the one case that used to hold his Cloak. That one now stood empty.

Stephen slipped deeper into his meditation. He could hear the walls as they adjusted to the cooler air of the night, finishing up releasing the heat they had absorbed during the day. Small creaks and groans that a normal man wouldn't notice. The scrabbling of a rat crawling around in the attic reached him.

Stephen sensed a portal being opened nearby and the distinct sound of a body hitting the floor shortly followed. Before he could react to the fact that someone had just entered his home without his permission and had gotten past the wards on the building, he found himself falling. He caught a brief glimpse of his Cloak speeding down the staircase as he hit the ground with a THUD.

"Ow," the sorcerer unhappily grunted as he tried to figure out what just happened.

It wasn't like the Cloak to suddenly take off like that. While he knew it would defend him from attacks, it had never headed into battle without him before. Stephen quickly got up and started to trot down the stairs. Whomever had just invaded his home would deal with its Master soon enough. Let the Cloak have its fun.

A woman's pain filled scream reached him a moment later and Stephen picked up the pace. He had barely made it to the stairwell when the Cloak came back to him. He didn't have time to react as the article of clothing wrapped itself around his shoulders and yanked him over the railing head first.

After a brief shout of surprise, Stephen flipped himself upright. His descent was way too fast for his liking. Fortunately, the Cloak did manage to slow him down enough to let him land without breaking or spraining anything. Once he was firmly on the ground, the Cloak left him again and hovered over his uninvited guest.

The sorcerer barely noticed the lingering sparks from a recently closed portal and with a wave of his hand, the lights in the foyer lit up so he could better see the woman laying face down on the ground. Her short dark brown hair hid her face, though he could see the back of her neck and tell she was fair skinned. She was wearing a T-shirt that was perhaps one washing away from being lint, jeans that had been worn a few too many times and tennis shoes that had almost no tread on them.

He would have thought she was dead if she wasn't gasping in pain. However, it was the rapidly growing pool of blood on the hardwood floor that had his undivided attention. The woman slightly moved, letting out a whimper as she did so. Stephen quickly knelt beside the lady and started to roll her over. She let out another shriek and the Cloak smacked him.

"What was that for?" Stephen demanded of his relic.

"Help me?" the prone lady weakly asked, looking up at him pain filled blue eyes, her face an ashen gray.

"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange," he told her. "I can help you, but I need to turn you over to see where you're hurt."

With a pained squeak, she rolled herself over. The front of her shirt and pants was soaked in blood and Micky Mouse never looked so gory. With a grimace of pain, she lifted up her shirt so he could see the damage done. A four to five inch long gash just above her left hip looked deep.

He instantly recognized the wound as one being made by a magical bladed weapon. He pulled apart the edges of the slash as gently as he could, but she still let out a hiss. The Cloak gave him another whack.

"Will you stop that!?" he snapped as he tried to push the hovering cloth out of the way. "You're in my light."

"Cloak?" the woman whispered just before she passed out.

Stephen found himself knocked away from his patient. He could only stare in amazement as the Cloak wrapped itself around the strange lady bleeding on his floor. A second later, the prone figure was floating a few feet above the ground.

"I need to put pressure on the wound," Stephen stated as he got to his feet and produced a pressure bandage.

The Cloak unwrapped itself enough for Stephen to get the thick piece of cloth in place. The magical red material immediately covered the bandage up and the sorcerer could see it wasn't going to move any time soon. A corner of the relic pointed at the man's Sling Ring on his hip.

"You're right," Stephen said as he slipped the ring over the index and middle fingers of his left hand. "She needs an operating room."

It took only a few seconds for him to open a portal into the now very familiar mop closet. The Cloak proceeded him through the magical entryway and waited for its chosen human to open the door. Stephen got the door slightly ajar before pulling the woman into his arms.

"It would be better if I carried her," he told the not so inanimate object when it tried to pull away.

When it became obvious that the Cloak wasn't going to go charging down the hallway, he toed the door open. While he appeared to be carrying this strange lady, he could feel that the Cloak was taking most of her weight. Luckily, it only took him a minute to find Christine Palmer as the staff were beginning to get used to him showing up at random times looking for her. The female doctor was just stepping out of one of the triage rooms when she spotted him.

"What have you got?" she asked by way of greeting.

"Laceration, lower left abdomen, just above the hip, at least four, maybe five inches long, though I wasn't able to tell how deep," he answered without hesitation, his training kicking in. "She's lost a lot of blood."

"Let's get her into an OR," she instructed as she headed down the hall. "Do you know her blood type?"

"No idea," he replied as they pushed past the swinging doors. "She literally just appeared in my foyer."

Christine turned to a passing nurse and ordered an operating team be sent to her stat. Stephen laid the strange woman on the operating table and tried to get the Cloak off. It refused to budge.

"We can't help her if you don't move," Stephen snapped at the garment.

"Stephen, who are you talking to?" She asked, quickly looking around for a transparent person.

"The Cloak of Levitation isn't cooperating," he answered.

"You're talking to your cape?" Christine hesitantly questioned, not sure if this visit was going to be the one to send her off the deep end.

"Actually, it's a cloak," he corrected as he tried to get the thing to move.

"We can discuss fashion after I see to your mystery woman," she grumbled as she grabbed the edge of the Cloak and flipped it out of the way.

"What the..." he muttered while the other doctor pulled back the bandage that was now soaked with blood.

She tossed the useless item to the floor and gently pulled the edges of the wound apart. She put her nose close to the opening and sniffed.

"I'm not smelling any feces, so there's a chance whatever did this missed the intestines, but it does look pretty deep," Christine said as she reached for scissors sitting on a nearby tray. "It doesn't look like any arteries were hit, but she's going to need blood and lots of it."

"I'm O pos," a woman's voice stated.

The doctors turned toward the voice and saw the top half the woman on the table's astral form. Christine jumped and let out a small scream.

"I'm not allergic to anything either," the lady continued.

"Wait!" Stephen shouted as the ghostly woman started to pull back into the astral plane.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," she said. "Please, keep me alive."

With that, she was gone. Stephen knew he could chase her down, but that would mean leaving his body. He wasn't in the mood to have the medical team fussing over him because it would appear that he had passed out. Besides, his pride just couldn't deal with people thinking he fainted at the sight of blood now.

"She's like you?" Christine inquired with a shaky voice as she went back to cutting away the blood soaked T-shirt.

"Apparently so," Stephen responded as he grabbed a second pair of scissors and worked on the stranger's jeans.

As soon as the clothing had been cut away, the doctors got a good look at the woman's body.

"This isn't the first time she's been hurt," Christine whispered as she stared at the multitude of old scars covering her patient's body.

Stephen lifted the woman up as Christine grabbed the cut away clothing and tossed it toward the used pressure bandage. Before he could grab it, the Cloak slipped back around Stephen's shoulders.

"Please tell me you did that," the female doctor murmured as the operating team came bursting into the room.

"I could, but I'd rather not lie to you," he quietly returned as he placed the patient back on the table.

Stephen stepped back as the other medical professionals surrounded the strange woman. The doctor in him wanted to follow Christine into the scrub room in order to get ready to operate, but he knew he would be no good to her. With trembling fists clenched, he decided to see if he could figure out who the mystery woman was.

He edged past the nurse who was inventorying the woman's belongings, three large rings, some money soaked with blood, a house key and a pair of blood spattered tennis shoes, and left the operating room. It took him only a minute to return to the mop closet and enter it. The portal was still open and he quickly crossed through to the foyer.

Once the portal was closed, he waved his hand and got rid of the blood on the floor. He stood in the middle of the entry way and looked around. Now that the blood was gone, there was no evidence that anything had happened earlier.

He thought back to the woman who had invaded his home. She was able to use the mystic arts, or at the very least, knew how to astrally project. However, that didn't explain how she had gotten in.

The wards around his home were set up to prevent unwanted portals from being opened up. Which also led to the question of who created the portal she came through. He canvased the area again, but there was no sign of a Sling Ring.

He knew he would get no answers here. He headed toward the door that would lead him to Kamar-Taj. He hoped that maybe someone could explain who this woman was and how she got past the wards.

"Wong!" the sorcerer called when he entered the Library, but there was no answer.

Stephen checked in the usual spots, trying to find the other man and came up empty. He ended up back in the Master's section and stared at Ancient One's personal collection. He longed to look through them. However, he also knew that if he did, he wouldn't get the answer to who the strange woman was.

"You know, Stephen, some of us do need to eat on occasion," Wong grumbled as he entered the room with a bowl of food in his hands.

"Right, sorry," Stephen said as he turned around and then a frown creased his forehead. "What time is it here?"

"Nearly noon," Wong answered as he put his lunch down. "Which makes it a little after one a.m. your time. Why are you here?"

"I had an unexpected guest earlier," the doctor started, completely ignoring the fact that he'd interrupted someone's meal. "A woman appeared in my foyer through a magic portal."

"Not a lot of men would complain about that," the Librarian teased.

"She was bleeding to death," Stephen snapped back.

"Well, that would put a dampener on things," Wong muttered.

"I want to know how she got past the wards," Stephen demanded as he turned back to the books. "Is there a spell to do that."

"Of course, but it would take a very powerful sorcerer or sorceress to do so," Wong replied. "I doubt even you would be able to get past those wards if you were bleeding to death. Tell me more about this woman."

"Well, she looked to be middle aged," the taller man started, "about ten to twenty pounds overweight, but in good condition. She probably sits a lot if her hips are anything to go by. She had what looked to be old battle scars over most of her body. She's O positive and has no known allergies."

"Anything else?" Wong asked.

"Her hair color came out of a box, clothing that was old and dirty, though with all of the blood it was hard to tell," Stephen continued. "Her jewelry was large and rather cheap looking."

"And in one breath, you went from doctor to fashion critic," Wong replied snarkily. "Give me a description I can work with, Strange. Hair and eye color? Ethnicity?"

"Hard to tell with the hair, but it appeared to be brown," Stephen answered, ignoring Wong's barb. "Blue eyes and Caucasian."

"Did you get a name?" the Librarian questioned as he headed toward another part of the Library.

"No, her astral form appeared long enough to give us her blood type and allergy risks," the doctor stated while he followed the shorter man. "She left in a hurry, so I didn't get a chance to ask."

"Probably went to warn someone," Wong said as he got to a pair of large doors.

The Librarian put his hands on the doors and a moment later, glowing magical symbols appeared. With only the slightest of efforts, he pushed the doors open. As soon as they stepped through, Stephen felt his jaw slightly drop.

The room was one of the smaller ones Stephen had seen and was filled with shelves just like the rest of the Library, but these weren't filled with old books. There were scrolls taking up a good quarter of the storage space. What appeared to be leather folders with loose pages inside of them covered another half. The final quarter had regular manila folders like he used to have in his office when he was still a surgeon.

"What is this room?" Stephen asked.

"Welcome to the Archives," Wong said as he started looking at the newer files. "In here are the records of every practitioner of the mystic arts since the first Ancient One."

"How many have there been?" the former doctor inquired as he walked around the room.

"Hundreds," the Librarian told him. "Possibly thousands. The Ancient One had wanted them all recorded onto a computer, but it's a daunting task and we've never found anyone who was up to the job."

"You think information on my mystery woman is in here?"

"She could be," Wong replied as he started pulling files off of the shelf. "Without a name, it'll be hard to find her. You might be better off just asking her. Where is she, by the way?"

"I left her with a doctor friend of mine," Stephen replied as he passed an older PC in the corner. "She needed blood and surgery. I'm good, but I doubt even the Ancient One would have been able to conjure up blood."

"What else can you tell me about her?"

"Not much."

The Cloak of Levitation suddenly slid off of Stephen's shoulders and floated around in front of him.

"Oh right," the disgruntled sorcerer muttered. "The Cloak has a crush on her."

"Come again?" Wong asked as the Cloak turned away from Stephen and floated to the other side of the room.

Stephen watched the relic with a confused frown on his face. He turned to see Wong also staring at the fickle thing.

"Can relics pout?" Stephen questioned.

"Here," Wong said as he handed over several files to Stephen. "Bring them back when you're done."

"There's only nine files," Stephen stated after he briefly looked at the stack given to him. "Aren't there more sorceresses?"

"Yes, but those are the ones that I'm sure are still alive, match your description, and are not here at Kamar-Taj," Wong told him. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd _like_ to finish my lunch."

"Right, sorry," the doctor replied as he walked over to his relic only to have it float away from him. "Ok, fine. Stay here if you want, but I was going to head back to the hospital to check on your friend."

Stephen didn't get two steps out of the room before he felt the familiar weight of his Cloak. He smirked a little as he kept walking. He looked back over his shoulder when he heard Wong shut the Archive doors and then watched the Librarian reset the magic seal.

"Have a lot of people been messing up your filing?" Stephen teased.

"Shortly after the whole Dormammu mess, someone broke in here and stole some of the files," Wong replied, clearly irritated by it.

"I thought you said if someone stole something they'd be dead before they left the compound," Stephen stated as the two men walked through the Library.

"That was if they stole a book," Wong harrumphed. "I wasn't expecting someone to raid the Archives."

"So these files you gave me..."

"Your mystery woman may not be in them," Wong confirmed. "You're probably better off just waiting for her to recover from surgery."

"Her astral form needs to put in an appearance, too," the doctor sighed.

"It'll be back," the Librarian assured him as they got back to the Master's section of the Library. "Her body will draw it back if it's gone too long."

"Good to know," Stephen replied as he kept going while Wong picked up his now cold food. "Enjoy your lunch."

With that, Stephen walked through the magical membrane separating Kamar-Taj and the New York Sanctum. Without breaking stride, he proceeded to open another portal into the all too familiar mop closet in the hospital. It was a little tricky with the files in his hand, but he managed.

Once he was finally in the hospital hallway, he went looking for Christine. After a few minutes of fruitless searching he ended up at the nurse's station. The lady behind the counter wasn't familiar to him and she was giving him a rather suspicious look.

"Can I help you, sir?" the woman asked coldly.

"I'm looking for Dr. Palmer," he replied, trying his best to be charming. "Can you tell me where to find her?"

"Dr. Palmer has gone home for the day," the nurse replied. "May I ask what you need? Perhaps one of the other doctors could assist you."

"I brought in a Jane Doe earlier with a lower abdominal laceration," Stephen informed the lady who's badge was flipped around so he couldn't see her name. "I was wondering what her condition was."

"You're relation to the patient?" she questioned.

"I'm the one who found her and brought her in," he repeated and he had a sinking feeling this woman wasn't going to be any help.

"I'm sorry, sir, but unless you are related to the patient, I can't give you any information on her," she told him tersely.

Yup, no help. He could try to identify himself as a doctor, but even if he did, he had no authority at this particular hospital. Stephen knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with Nurse Ratchet and decided he was going to have to use other means to find his lady intruder.

"Of course. Thank you for your time," he replied and then turned to leave.

"Sir! You can't go that way!" the desk nurse exclaimed and Stephen belatedly realized he was about to go into the treatment area. "You have to go out the exit."

"Sorry," he said as he turned back around, the Cloak swirling around him. "Which way to the bathrooms?"

"They're around the corner," she stated, eying suspiciously while she pointed the direction he should be headed in.

"Thank you," he repeated as he quickly walked toward the restrooms.

Once he was out of sight of not just the nurse's station, but those in the waiting room, Stephen opened another portal back to his own home. He didn't get two steps before the Cloak stopped him. The sorcerer already knew there was no point in trying to fight the relic, so he closed the portal.

With a sigh of disgust, Stephen found the men's restroom and went in. He made sure the room was empty before locking the door behind him. He looked down at the floor dubiously.

"You had better not let me fall," he grumbled at the Cloak.

He felt his feet start to leave the floor. He was about to send his spirit out when he remembered he was still holding the folders. He quickly set them on the counter next to the sinks.

A moment later, he was floating above his body which was being gently cradled by his relic. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to get used to seeing himself like that. Knowing he didn't have much time before someone would need the bathroom, he set out to find his mystery woman.

Floor by floor he went, checking all of the beds for the strange lady. He finally found her on the fifth floor. He had seen that people normally had a slight glow to them, but she didn't. Her spirit was still off doing who knew what.

He looked out the open door and was thankful that this room wasn't across from the nurse's station. He checked on the nurse on duty and saw her working on her computer. A quick check saw that she had just completed her rounds, so he knew he had a little time.

He quickly returned to his body and the Cloak softly set him back on his feet. Without a word, he opened a portal to the room several floors above him. He grabbed the folders, unlocked the door and swiftly stepped through the opening.

He closed the magical gateway just as someone started to come into the bathroom. A brief look out the door and Stephen could see the nurse still typing away. He turned back around and he felt the Cloak lift off of his shoulders. He watched in amazement as the relic floated over to the bed and then spread out over the occupant.

"What are you doing?" Stephen softly asked.

The Cloak laid there as if it was an ordinary piece of clothing. The doctor looked down at the woman and saw that she looked a hell of a lot better than she had when she first arrived in his home. He checked her pulse, being mindful of the IV line in the back of her hand, and it was strong and steady.

Her face was a healthy pink instead of the ashen gray it had been she had first arrived. She was in a hospital gown now, so the scars on her body were less visible. She simply looked like she was sleeping, but he knew that until her soul returned, she wouldn't be waking up.

Stephen checked the doorway again. He made another portal, this one leading back to his home. He grabbed the collar of the Cloak and tried to lift it.

"Ok, we've seen her, but we can't stay," he quietly stated as he continued to tug on the cloth.

He might as well have tried to take down the Great Wall of China with his bare hands. The Cloak was not budging.

"We have to go," Stephen hissed.

The relic simply wrapped itself around the strange woman. Stephen stood there staring at the bright red Cloak. He knew arguing with the magical object was pointless. Mules were less stubborn.

"At least get under the covers," he muttered as he set down the folders.

He pulled the blankets down and then pulled them back over the woman with the Cloak underneath. He did his best to make the covers look nice and neat, but he had limited success. With luck, the nurses would just think that she had moved in her sleep.

"Stay out of sight of the nurses and doctors," he softly warned.

With one last glance at the patient in the bed to make sure he couldn't see any red, he stepped through the portal.


	2. In the Shadows

Ari looked around her little apartment with pride. She had done it in time! The place was clean from top to bottom, everything was packed and she was ready to go!

All that was left to do was a quick trip to the store, shower and then bed. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough as far as she was concerned. The twins were finally going to be eighteen and she was taking them on their annual camping trip. She looked forward to the time with her kids where their father couldn't make a pest of himself. The best part was that she was finally going to be able to tell them everything she had been hiding from them since the divorce fifteen years ago.

She grabbed some money and stuffed it into the front pocket of her jeans, the three rings on her left hand catching on the stitching that was barely hanging on. With key in hand, she left the place she had been living in for over a decade. She wouldn't miss it when she left for good.

It took her a moment to set the protection wards once the door was locked. Even though night had fallen, the brief glow of the magic symbols didn't draw attention. There wasn't anyone around to see them.

Most everyone in the apartment building was home for the night and not likely to venture out until morning. It wasn't safe to be out after dark in this neighborhood. The people who lived here were hard working folks with ancestry from around the globe. Her apartment building had had a problem with gangs vandalizing and stealing before she moved in.

A few subtle spells and that was no longer a worry. Unfortunately, once she was gone, it would probably start up again. She wondered if anyone would figure out the causation.

She quickly trotted down the stairs to the sidewalk. She wasn't in a good neighborhood, but she had no concern for her safety. Even after leaving her old life to start a family, she continued to study martial arts. It was good exercise and it meant the local thugs knew better than to bother with her. It was easier for people to believe that she knew karate than to explain she had used magic to defeat a man a good six inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier than her.

Her mind was more on her mental check list than it was on what was going on around her, which was a mistake. When she stepped into the dark alleyway, she hadn't expected anyone else to be there. Then a shadow moved and she quickly was brought back to the here and now.

"I don't want trouble," she said to the dark form, not the least bit worried.

"But trouble wants you," a man replied.

He talked with an English accent and she didn't recognize his voice. This wasn't one of the local gang members. He had a hood up, putting his face in shadow, so she couldn't even tell the color of his skin. She was pretty sure he had to be darker than her pasty self though.

"I don't have money," she lied. "The rings aren't worth anything and if you're looking for sex, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."

"All this time, hiding in plain sight," he nearly growled. "Twisting the world to your liking. To your selfish needs."

"Trust me, buddy, if I could do that, I wouldn't be living in the worst neighborhood in East Palo Alto," she scoffed.

"Aurora Rose, the bill has come due," he snarled and she instantly tensed.

"Who are you?" she demanded, rather concerned as to how he knew her real name.

"The bill collector," he hissed just before he threw a spell at her.

She quickly and easily deflected it. She let the power she kept hidden wash over her and a second later, they were inside the Mirror Dimension. No sense in endangering anyone who might have the misfortune to walk by.

"I don't know who you are or what you want, but you've messed with the wrong person," she snapped.

"Do you really think the Mirror Dimension will help save you?" he taunted.

"I'm more interested in saving innocent bystanders from some psychotic nut job," she spat back.

She had been in too many battles to let some idiot take her down now, even if he did have magic. He came at her, leaping much higher than a normal man should, but that didn't bother her. She blasted him away and tried to make it out of the alley.

He blocked her exit and made a grab for her belly. She knocked his hand away and then activated a pair of shields. She wasn't sure what he was going for, but she had no intention of finding out.

"Sorry, buster," she growled. "I'm not that kind of girl."

She wanted to get out of the alley, but every time she tried make it to the exit, he blocked her. The dim light and his dark clothing made it hard to see him. Her eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, but it still wasn't easy to watch for his next move.

It had been nearly two decades since she last had a magical battle. While she was rusty with fighting with magic, she still knew how to fight hand to hand. When he made a grab for her belly again, she grabbed his wrist and gave it a good twist. On a smaller, less muscled man, she would have broken both of the bones in the lower arm. He broke her hold, backing off a bit and she could see him subtly shaking the arm.

"You kept up your training," he stated, sounding slightly surprised.

"A single white woman in this neighborhood?" she pointed out as they faced off against each other. "You either learn to defend yourself or you become a statistic."

"I wonder how well you would have done without your magic," he snarled. "You have twisted the fabric of reality to suit your purposes. You have stolen power and perverted nature!"

"I have stolen nothing," she hissed back. "And I'm not the one hiding in a dark alleyway!"

He came at her again and she met him head on. While he had strength and weight on her, she had speed and dexterity. However, he obviously was younger than her and had more endurance.

After several minutes of grappling, she could feel her muscles starting to shake from the exertion, sweat started to get into her eyes, her heart pounding and her lungs were having trouble keeping up with the oxygen demands of her body. She knew she needed to end this now. She didn't want to kill this man, but she was running out of options.

When he came at her again, she created a triple bladed knife with her magic. He dodged her swing, though she did manage to snag a bit of the hooded sweater he was wearing. He did some fantastic leaps that weren't humanly possible. She saw the magic symbols briefly light up the dark alley and she knew he had to be wearing some sort of relic.

She tried to keep him in front of her, but she couldn't predict where he would move next. He was suddenly behind her. He wrapped his arms around her, again reaching for her abdomen. She barely managed to get her arm in the way. Belatedly, she realized that she should have used her other arm as she felt the sharp edge of one of the blades slide into her.

She screamed in pain as she instinctively sent a shock wave of magic through her body. With a shout of surprise, her attacker flew through the air and hit the wall. He landed in a heap on the ground, not moving. She didn't know if she had killed him or not and she didn't currently care.

She dropped her weapon and it dissolved before it hit the ground. With what little magic she had left, she passed her right hand over her left, activating the spell woven into her rings that merged them together into a Sling Ring. Her hands shook as she raised them to open a portal. She didn't really think about where she was going, just that she needed to get someplace safe.

As soon as the opening was big enough, she stumbled through the gateway. She tripped over her own feet and landed hard on the parquet floor. Instinctively, she closed the portal and deactivated the spell on her rings.

She lay there, trying to get her bearings when someone grabbed her by the shoulders and started to lift her up. She screamed as pain went tearing through her and was immediately put back down. She was finally able to put some pressure on the wound, but she could tell that she had lost a lot of blood.

She lay gasping in pain when the lights came on and she swore she recognized the floor she was bleeding all over. Once more, someone grabbed her. This time the person tried to roll her over. She let out another shriek as she tried not to feint from the agony.

The person immediately let go and said something to someone else. She couldn't tell what he was saying, but she knew she had been found by a man. She managed to look up at a very handsome face.

"Help me?" Ari begged.

"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange," the man told her. "I can help you, but I need to turn you over to see where you're hurt."

Knowing that it would be better if she moved herself, she rolled over. She tried not to yell again, but a pained squeak did escape her. She laid on her back and pulled up her shirt for him to see the hole she helped create.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing and not passing out. His fingers were incredibly gentle, but it felt like they were shaking slightly. She was sure it was her imagination. She did her best to be a good patient, but a hiss of discomfort did escape her.

She heard the doctor sharply talk to someone, though she couldn't concentrate on what he said. There wasn't a response and a shadow passed over her.

"You're in my light," the good doctor snapped.

She finally opened her eyes and stared at a bright red garment hovering over her. She knew she must be imagining things. There was no way it could have gotten out.

"Cloak?" she whispered.

Then there was blackness.

* * *

Ari managed to enter the astral dimension with great effort. Astral projection wasn't her strongest ability and it was harder when she was hurt. It didn't help she had spent a lot of magic trying to defend herself.

She looked down at herself and saw the man from earlier with a strange woman wearing scrubs. His clothing was not something you'd typically see a normal person wearing, much less a doctor. She recognized the clothes of a sorcerer who had trained at Kamar-Taj. She was pretty sure that she had managed to return to the New York Sanctum and by shear dumb luck, its new master was a doctor of some type.

She turned her attention back to the scene below her and saw that she was laid out on a table in an operating room. Her clothes were soaked with blood and the bodily fluid was streaked all over her arms and even up her neck. She looked down at her astral self to see that the dark stain had carried over with her. She sighed in frustration. She hated when that happened. She looked like she had escaped a cheesy horror movie.

She could see she wasn't going to be camping with her kids after all and then a chilling thought hit her. If the man who attacked her knew her real name, than it stood to reason that he knew about her children. She was about to head out to warn them when she heard the woman talking about blood.

Ari didn't want to make the doctor's job harder. She had no ID with her, so they were treating her blind. With a bit of effort, she pushed her top half between the astral dimension and the normal one.

"I'm O pos," Ari stated and felt a bit bad when the other woman screamed and jumped. "I'm not allergic to anything either."

"Wait!" the man shouted as she started to pull back into the astral dimension.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Ari said. "Please, keep me alive."

Before he could say anything more, she completed the transition and then headed toward her children. Shortly after the kids had been born, she had placed a tracking spell on each of them so that she could find them in any dimension. Finding them wouldn't be a problem. The trick would be to convince them that they weren't dreaming. Or seeing a ghost.

She tried her best not to think what would happen if she was too late. Of all of the arguments with her ex-husband she ever had, one of the few that she had won was insisting that the kids get martial arts training as soon as they were old enough. So if the man that attacked her came after them, they would be able to hold him off for a little bit. She just hoped that she was just overreacting. She hoped.

She expected to feel the pull toward her ex's house as she drew closer to Palo Alto, but instead she felt herself being drawn in two different directions. She aimed for the closer of the two and found herself at a large outdoor mall.

It only took her a moment to find Morgan in the Macy's. The young woman had a couple of friends with her, one of whom Ari recognized from school. The girls were laughing and Ari wasn't sure when the last time she saw her daughter so happy.

She followed the girls through the store and the mother wondered why her daughter wasn't at home getting ready for their trip or at least getting some sleep. She heard the announcement for the store closing and the girls groaned.

"Come on, let's go to a movie," the girl Ari didn't know suggested.

"There's nothing good playing," Madison, the girl from school, whined.

"Who cares?" Morgan short back bitterly. "I'd rather watch a snooze fest than have to go home and pack."

"I can't believe your dad is making you go on that stupid camping trip with your mom," Madison commiserated.

"I thought you said her mom was nice," the third girl said in confusion.

"She is, but she's weird, too," Madison retorted. "I swear she's got eyes on the back of her head. And she always seems to know when you've done something wrong. It can get a bit creepy."

"Trust me, Ashley, my mom is the queen of weird," Morgan told her friend. "I'm just glad that this will be the last time I have to go camping with her. I hate going. It's so boring out there. There's no internet connection at all. Don't even get me started on the bugs and the dirt gets _everywhere_. And Mom wants to know about _everything_ going on in my life. I hate it."

"Why don't you tell her?" Ashley asked as the girls were nearing the exit.

"My dad won't let me," Morgan grumbled. "Said that it's part of the divorce agreement that we have to spend two weeks every summer with her. As if having her working at the school I was going to wasn't bad enough. But I'll be eighteen tomorrow, I'm going away to college in August and this will be the last time I have to go be mosquito food."

Ari felt her heart breaking. She never realized her daughter hated their vacations with her that much. Did her son hate them too? She couldn't afford to take them on fancy vacations like their father could.

"Listen, I've got to go hit the bathroom," Morgan continued as she turned toward the hallway that led to the restrooms. "You guys coming?"

"No, we'll wait for you by the doors," Ashley replied.

Morgan headed down the corridor while Ari floated along behind the girl. The woman was angry and hurt that all this time they'd been lying about enjoying their camping trips. The animosity her ex-husband had for her must have gotten to at least her daughter. Would it be the same for her son?

No matter that the girl seemed to think her mother was an embarrassment, she could still be in danger. Ari started to think about how she could get the girl to go home. She had put protection wards on her ex's home just to keep them safe.

Even though he had hurt her in so many ways, she didn't want her kids in danger, so the wards went up without their knowledge. They weren't as complete as the ones on her apartment, but they would keep anything supernatural from getting in.

She floated in front of the sinks while Morgan used one of the stalls. Then she caught a glimpse of her astral form in the mirror. She looked like she came straight out of a horror movie.

She got a brilliant, and admittedly evil, idea. Ari fully crossed over from the astral dimension into the normal one. She felt kind of bad for what she was about to do to her daughter. Kind of.

Ari hid in an empty stall and waited. A minute later, Morgan emerged from her stall and headed for the sinks. While the girl was washing her hands, Ari floated through the door of the stall she was in.

"Moooorgaaaan, heeeeelp meeeeee," Ari plaintively cried as she came toward the girl, her hand stretched out toward the teenager.

Morgan looked up into the mirror and saw her mother's ghostly reflection, covered in blood and let out a scream they probably could hear in the operating room Ari's body was in. Morgan went running out of the room, shrieking all the way and Ari quickly return to the astral dimension before following her daughter. If that didn't get the spoiled brat to head home, nothing would.

Well, it seemed screaming and running through a major department store just before closing tended to get security there very quickly. Ari watched as Morgan's friends tried to get the girl to calm down enough to explain what was going on. Once they got the hysterical teenager coherent enough to get some discernible words out of her, people went charging off to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, police, firefighters and paramedics were there and the place was crawling with people. Ari was pretty sure that her attacker wouldn't be coming near her daughter any time soon. Then the woman saw Ashley try calling someone on Morgan's phone.

"You're dad's not answering," Ashley told Morgan, who was still was white as a sheet.

"Th-th-th-they w-w-w-w-went out t-t-t-to a p-p-p-play," Morgan stuttered as a paramedic put an oxygen mask over her face.

"I'll try Brandon then," Ashley stated as she scrolled through the numbers in the phone.

"H-h-h-he's on-n-n a d-d-d-date," Morgan sobbed.

"Not for much longer he's not," Ari growled to herself.

The woman followed the pull toward her son and found him back at home, in his bedroom with a girl she didn't know. Ari was not amused to see her son with his hand up this girl's top and kissing her neck. The poor girl didn't look like she was really into it.

"Brandon, I don't know," the girl said as she tried to push his hand out of her shirt.

"Come on, Courtney, you know you want to," he purred while holding her closer.

When his phone rang a second later, the girl actually looked very relieved.

"Ignore it," Brandon softly ordered.

Ari was having none of it. She pushed her mouth out of the astral dimension next to his ear.

"Answer the phone," she quietly hissed.

"What the hell!" Brandon yelled as he jumped.

Courtney didn't waste a second getting out of the bed when he loosened his hold on her.

"I'm going home!" she yelled, nearly in tears.

Ari watched her son. She didn't want to scare the poor girl, but she was about ready to give her offspring a good what for. He didn't answer the girl, but angrily grabbed the phone, only looking at the display for a second before answering.

"What do want, Morgan?" he demanded and paused for a few seconds, his frown deepening. "Who the hell is this? Why are you calling me?" He listened for a little longer. "She thought she saw what?"

Courtney was getting her things as quickly as she could.

"Courtney, wait!" Brandon yelled as the girl ran out of the room and then he turned his attention back to the phone. "Where are you?" He was silent for a few seconds more. "Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes."

He got his shoes on, grabbed his keys and phone and charged down the stairs to the three million dollar home. He went running outside just as Courtney's SUV burned rubber as she sped away. He said several choice words as he got into his Camero.

Ari followed along with him, less than amused by the children she had given birth to. What a revelation this had been. She couldn't decide if she was more angry or heart broken.

It didn't take more than fifteen minutes for Brandon to get to the mall. Even though it was a Friday night, most of the stores were closed at that hour, so the parking lot was pretty much empty. The young man found them easily enough as it was quite the circus of emergency vehicles near the entrance to the store. There were a few police officers keeping people from getting too curious about what was going on.

"I'm sorry, young man, you'll have to go around," a police officer told Brandon when he approached.

"That's my sister," Brandon explained.

"Wait here," a female police officer instructed as she went over to where the paramedics were working with Morgan.

The second officer talked to the girl and Morgan looked over toward them. Even from the distance they were at, Ari could see Morgan was crying still. Now she could add guilt to the anger and heart ache.

"It's ok, John," the lady officer called. "The girl confirms he's her brother."

Brandon went over to his sister and stared down at her tear streaked face. Her carefully done makeup was ruined and her hair was a mess. He looked like he wanted to be annoyed with her.

Ari was so consumed with what was going on with her kids, that she almost missed the reason she was there. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow move and she quickly turned toward it. She charged toward the spot, but by the time she got there, whatever had moved was gone.

She canvased the area, looking for anyone or anything unusual, but came up with nothing. By the time she got back to the twins, they were heading toward Brandon's car. She followed, but was hyper vigilant until they were in the vehicle. She had never been so glad to be so paranoid that she had warded both of their cars.

She passed through the exterior of the Camero and settled in the back seat. They drove in relative silence through the night with Morgan occasionally sniffing. Ari looked over at Brandon and saw the boy was getting progressively angrier.

"Are you popping again?" he finally demanded, causing his sister to jump.

"What?" Morgan and Ari exclaimed, one in indignation and the other in confusion.

"Are you popping pills again?" Brandon clarified heatedly.

"Again!?" Ari asked, her voice going up an octave.

"No!" Morgan snapped back.

"If you are, Dad's going to throw a shit fit," he stated.

"Your mother's about to have one herself in a moment," Ari muttered to her oblivious kids.

"I'm not on any drugs!" Morgan nearly yelled. "I saw her, Brandon! I saw Mom's ghost!"

"Yeah, right," Brandon scoffed and more tears fell down his sister's face.

"She's not answering her phone," she sniffed, staring down at her own phone. "I called and I called, but she didn't pick up."

"Jesus, Morg, it's after eleven," he pointed out.

"It's not like her not to pick up," she continued with uneven breath. "She always picks up. Especially if it's one of us."

"So, what do you want me to do about it?" he nearly snarled and there was silence for a good minute.

"Can we..." she started in a small voice.

"Can we what?" he growled suspiciously.

"Can we stop at her place and check?" she requested quietly. "You wouldn't need to get out of the car. I'd just run up and make sure she's ok."

"I'm sure that Mom will be thrilled to be woken up in the middle of the night," he grumbled.

"Please, I have to make sure she's ok," she begged through the tears.

"Fine," he growled.

He made a U-turn at the next light and only managed to keep it to the speed limit because there was a cop nearby. Ari didn't mind the detour. While their father's home was warded, her apartment better protections.

The trick would be to get them both in there and to keep them there. This was going to be tricky and would require some careful maneuvering. Ari was still thinking about how she would convince the twins to stay in her tiny apartment when they pulled up.

Brandon double parked as Morgan jumped out of the car. Ari was half way out of the car herself when a dark figure jumped her daughter. Morgan barely managed to block the hand that was making a grab for her stomach.

"NO!" Ari screamed in absolute rage.

She blasted from the astral dimension at her daughter's attacker. The man was startled to say the least, but didn't let go of the girl until Ari hit him in the torso and nearly pushed his astral form out of his body. He managed to remain in his body, but only just.

He was about to make another grab for Morgan, but had to duck the kick the girl aimed at his head. He made another lunge for the teenager as Brandon came flying out of his car. Ari was coming in for another pass when the dark man turned and ran.

"Get in the apartment now!" Ari ordered her shocked kids.

"Mom?" Brandon questioned in barely a whisper.

"Just get in the apartment," Ari repeated. "I'll explain everything later."

Without bothering to see if they followed her orders, she turned and followed the man. She slipped back into the astral dimension as she went after her attacker. She didn't have to go far to know that she lost him. The sparks of a recently closed portal let her know that he had escaped.

She quickly returned to her kids and found them still standing on the sidewalk. With a sigh of disgust, she pushed herself back onto their side. Morgan was too busy hyperventilating to let out a proper scream.

"Apartment! Now!" Ari ordered.

"My car!" Brandon started.

"Leave it!" Ari snapped. "It can be replaced! You can't! Now move!"

Brandon spun on his heel, grabbed his sister and half dragged, half carried her up the outside steps to Ari's apartment. He pulled the keys out of Morgan's shaking hand and fumbled with getting the key in the damn keyhole. Ari stayed with them, keeping a watch out for anything unusual.

"DOWN!" Ari shouted as a magic bolt came through the air.

The teenagers barely managed to avoid getting blasted. Ari went flying after the man only to lose him through another portal. She returned just as her son got the door open.

"Now in!" Ari barked.

Brandon practically threw his sister into the apartment and slammed and locked the door behind them. Ari floated through the wall and waited for the twins to compose themselves. There was no point talking to them until they had calmed down.

Morgan was in a crumpled heap on the floor, sobbing her eyes out. Brandon leaned against the front door looking lost and confused. It took a good ten minutes for the boy to get himself together enough to turn on a light. Morgan squeaked in surprise as she looked around. When she saw her mother, she started to cry again.

"Oh, sweetie," Ari crooned as she knelt down next to the girl. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you so. I just wanted to get you home so you'd be safe."

"And how is being locked in your apartment safe?" Brandon demanded. "We're trapped! That asshole is still out there! What's to stop him from coming in here with a chainsaw?"

"The wards," Ari answered as she floated up to her son. "He's not getting through that door or the windows or even the roof without me letting him."

"Wards? What the hell are wards?" he heatedly asked.

"It's a magical shield I put on this place to keep intruders out," she replied. "The only people who can get through them have to be related to me by blood unless I let them in."

"B-b-b-b-blood," Morgan stuttered, pointing at her mother's astral form.

"Magic isn't real, Mom," he spat.

"Then how do you explain what just happened?" she calmly questioned. "How do you explain what you see in front of you?"

Brandon was quiet for a few minutes. He frowned at the apparition in front of him.

"You're not dead!" he forcefully stated. "You can't be."

"You're right, I'm not," Ari confirmed.

"B-b-b-b-b-blood!" Morgan repeated as she breathed in hiccuped gasps.

"Are you both ready to listen?" Ari asked her kids. "I'll explain everything, but you have to be willing to hear me out."

"Yeah, I think so," Brandon answered.

"Good," she sighed with some relief. "Have a seat on the couch and get comfortable. This may take a while."

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Sorry for the lack of Dr. Strange. He'll be back next chapter, promise.


	3. The Return

**Author's Notes** : Quick reminder that in the movie there is a very brief scene of Stephen sleeping in bed while his Astral Form is reading a book that he stole from the Library. Also, sorry this chapter's a bit shorter than the last two. The last scene was running much too long and had to be bumped into the next chapter.

* * *

Stephen was exhausted and was so glad to finally being able to go to bed. A glance at the clock showed that it was nearly two in the morning. He finished his preparations and then crawled under the covers.

No sooner had he gotten comfortable then his spirit pulled free of his body. Now he could go through the files Wong had given him while his body got the rest it needed. He went to grab the first folder and couldn't find them. Then it hit him. The last time he remembered seeing them was when he went to check on his mystery woman.

With a sigh, he drifted through the outer walls of the Sanctum and headed toward Manhattan. It took him almost no time to float into her hospital room. The files were right where he left them, sitting on the nightstand next to the bed.

He started to reach for the items when her bed had an explosion of covers. Stephen quickly turned to face the threat and saw the Cloak hovering protectively over the lady. It reminded the man of a cobra ready to strike. Rather bemused by the near sentient item, he pushed his upper half into the normal dimension.

"It's just me," the sorcerer softly assured the relic.

The Cloak paused for a moment and then did a strange little up and down bob. Stephen watched in amazement as the bright red relic rearranged the bedding it had knocked off the woman. In about a minute, the blankets were back where they belong with the Cloak hiding beneath them. Stephen wasn't sure if he should be impressed or jealous that a magical object with no hands was able to get the bedding to look better than he had.

Stephen returned to the astral dimension, turned back to the files and reached for them. While they weren't magical books, they had been kept in Kamar-Taj which imbued them with some magical energy. Stephen was able to use that to pull the top folder into the astral dimension with him with some effort.

He read the rather lengthy file on a sorceress that, about half way through, he was pretty sure wasn't his mystery woman. The file he was holding was for a woman that was in her seventies. Unless the lady in the hospital bed knew some age reversing spells or was drawing energy from the Dark Dimension, then he doubted she was Linda Smythe.

He finished with the first dossier and went for the second when the night nurse came in to do her rounds. First she checked her patient's vitals and replaced the bag of fluids. Then she checked the suture site to check for infection while Stephen watched from over her shoulder. He recognized Christine's suturing and he did his best not to let past regrets draw him into a melancholie mood.

He looked for the Cloak, but saw no sign of it. However, there did seem to be a rather unusual lump under the blankets at the foot of the bed. Once the nurse was done and pulled the bedding up, the bump smoothed itself out. Stephen had to chuckle at the relic's cleverness.

As the nurse left, Stephen reached for the pile of folders to start reading the second file. Unfortunately, the stack was now missing. He turned toward the retreating woman and saw them in her hand.

With a sigh, he floated out to the nurse's station and waited for the woman to put them down. She flipped through them briefly, obviously not recognizing any of the names. When she tried to read one of the files she got a horrified look on her face. She let out a small shriek before throwing the files in the garbage and then making the sign of the cross over and over again.

"Really, it's not that bad," Stephen grumbled as he looked down into the trash bin and groaned. "Wong is going to kill me."

There was the typical tossed out things: used medical gloves, chewing gum and a few empty paper cups with the dregs of coffee in them. It might not have been so bad if someone hadn't also tossed out a half eaten meatball sub which was of course what the folders landed on.

There was no helping it, he was going to have to head home and wake up. With a sigh of frustration, he headed back to the Sanctum. It took him less than ten minutes to return to his body, wake up enough to find his Sling Ring and retrieve the files.

Stephen did the best he could to clean up the mess, but without the Eye of Agamotto, he wasn't reversing the damage done. Maybe he could slip these back into the Archives without Wong noticing. Then he remembered the wards on the doors and recalled seeing the symbols that prevented gateways being opened.

Which brought him back to how the hell did someone open a portal inside of the Sanctum? Even Kaecilius hadn't been able to do that. He had to open his gateway outside the front doors and force his way in.

While he set a small part of his mind to working out how she had done it, especially since she didn't have a Sling Ring, he spread the folders out on his huge bed. It was quite the change going from living in the little cell at Kamar-Taj to having a huge room with a bed that could quite possibly sleep a family of four with the pet dog and cat and still have room left over.

He imbued the unread folders with enough magic to make it easier to read them in the astral dimension. Once that was done, he turned off the light, laid back down and closed his eyes. His spirit rose up a moment later, collected the files and headed back to the hospital to wait for his uninvited guest to return.

* * *

"You've gotta admit, Mom, this is pretty hard to believe," Brandon stated and Ari cocked an eyebrow at him. "Not impossible, mind you!"

"It explains a lot though," Morgan added.

"Explains why your mother is the 'queen of weird', right?" Ari asked and she got some satisfaction at the look of horror on her daughter's face.

"Oh god, you heard that?" the girl squeaked.

"Honey, if you didn't like the camping trips, you could have told me," Ari gently told teenager.

"Busted!" Brandon chuckled.

"As for _you_ , young man," Ari snapped, getting right in her son's face. "If I _ever_ hear of you forcing yourself on anyone again, I will find a spell to make sure you can't get it up until you're _fifty_!"

"What the hell did you do?" Morgan demanded of her brother.

"Nothing!" Brandon shouted.

"I caught him and a young lady named Courtney in his room getting a little _too_ friendly on his bed and she was _not_ a willing participant," Ari all but growled, floating right over the boy who was trying to disappear into the couch cushions.

"I thought you said you were going to show Courtney a good time!" Morgan yelled. "You said it would be a night she'd never forget!"

"I was!" Brandon angrily retorted. "It would have been!"

"One doesn't easily forget being _raped_ ," Ari snarled.

"It wasn't..." he sputtered. "I wouldn't have…She didn't say 'no'!"

"She may not have said that exact word, but she said it with other words and her behavior," Ari heatedly pointed out.

"Mom, why are you drifting?" Morgan suddenly asked and Ari realized she was being pulled back to her body.

"I have to go now," Ari quickly told them. "I'll come for you as soon as I can. I love you!"

Before any more could be said, Ari was yanked back into the astral dimension and she didn't fight being drawn back to her body. She knew it wouldn't be pleasant and trying to resist would make it worse. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time she had stayed away too long.

She barely noticed another person's astral self in the hospital room her body was in as she slammed back into her corporeal form. She gasped as her body dealt with the shock of her spirit returning like a ton of bricks. Ari softly groaned and turned onto her right side, hoping that the pain would soon subside.

She turned her face into the pillow and quietly cried in pain. She felt her body shaking from the shock and she did her best not to attract the attention of any nurses. The nurses meant well, but they never quite knew what to do with someone who practiced the mystic arts. They were a little too quick with the drugs which often left Ari pretty loopy.

She wasn't sure how long she laid there. It felt like forever, but she was pretty sure it was only a few minutes. Ari realized it felt like the bedding was hugging her and she was able to concentrate on that. It helped to give herself a distraction until the shock and pain subsided. It almost felt like...but that was impossible.

It took a while and even though she still was shaking and was in pain, she no longer felt like screaming. With a shaky breath, she relaxed a little and turned her face away from pillow. It took another minute to manage to open her eyes.

"While your reentry was impressive, I'm afraid I'll have to deduct points for that landing," a man's voice said.

Ari didn't even have to see him to know it was the astral person she had seen. She had a pretty good guess who it was. She turned to see the upper half of the man she asked for help earlier and who she was pretty sure was the current Master of the New York Sanctum.

"At least I had a body to land in, thanks to you," Ari croaked and she quickly tried to moisten her mouth. "Doctor..."

"Strange," he filled in. "Stephen Strange. And you are?"

"Ari Post," she replied as she started to sit up.

"Nice to meet you, Ari," Stephen said as he watched her start to try and figure out how to lower the side rail of the bed. "What are you doing?"

"I need to use the bathroom," Ari mumbled as she leaned over the railing to try and figure out how to lower it. "These things used to be much easier to get down."

"If you need help, the call button for the nurse is right there," he informed her, pointing out the small device near the head of the bed.

Ari stopped what she was doing and looked over at the transparent man. She didn't appear overly amused.

"Tell me, Dr. Strange, have you ever had to use a bedpan before?" she inquired.

He stared at her for several seconds as a myriad of humiliating memories flooded his mind.

"Stay right there," he instructed as he started to pull back into the astral dimension. "I'll come help you."

With that, he was gone and she let out a snort.

"Like I'm going to hop out of this bed and go run the Boston Marathon?" she snarkily asked the empty room.

* * *

Stephen opened his eyes and threw back the covers, ignoring the files that just got knocked to the floor. While his mind and spirit were full steam ahead, his body was still working on being upright. It took him several minutes to get himself together and he hoped that the lady hadn't managed to do anything foolish.

He opened a portal and was rather relieved to see her sitting at the foot of the bed, her bare feet dangling nearly a foot above the floor. He did notice that she had detached the IV line without removing the peripheral cannula in the back of her hand. She only glanced at him when he crossed through the gateway before turning back to staring at the floor.

"I don't suppose these floors have gotten any warmer in the past twenty years, have they?" she questioned.

"I doubt it," he responded as he stepped in front of her.

"They took my socks," she stated.

"They were soaked in blood," he informed her.

She continued to look down at the linoleum covered floor. With a wave of his hands, he pulled slippers and a robe for her to wear through the portal from his room. They were his and were likely much too big for her, but they would do for now.

"Thank you," she sighed with relief as she slipped the robe on and he put the slippers on her feet. "I wasn't looking forward to trying to make it to the bathroom in next to nothing."

"Shall we go?" he asked.

He stood a couple of feet from her with his arms stretched out toward her.

"Closer," she told him, crooking a finger at him to get him to step forward.

He took a step forward, but she kept doing that finger thing. He moved again. That finger was still going.

He was finally standing so close to her that his elbows were bent at a ninety degree angle. He was standing maybe six inches away from her knees. He wasn't sure how being this close to her would help her.

"Ok," he mumbled when she grabbed his arms just below the elbows with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Take a half step back," she instructed.

He did as he was told, his large hands supporting her elbows. She carefully put her feet on the floor and slowly stood up. He tried to take another step back, but she tightened her grip and pulled him back.

"Give me a moment," she said through gritted teeth.

Stephen stood there, not exactly sure of what to do. He operated on patients, did follow ups, but he had never been there right after they woke up. He had no idea what to do, but obviously, this patient did.

While he waited for her, he wasn't exactly sure why she was stalling, he looked around the room. It was a standard hospital room, nothing amazing. However, something seemed to be missing.

Then it dawned on him, the Cloak didn't appear to be in the bed. The thing that had been completely obsessed with this woman was missing. Stephen could see that there was a rather sizable lump at the foot of the bed again. While he figured out how to extract the relic from the bedding, Ari stood up a little taller and Stephen turned his attention back to her.

"Ok, move around to my right," she instructed.

He stepped to the left and up a little to be standing on her right. Their arms were still locked together and he belatedly realized that his right arm was across her chest. Her lips twitched in amusement as she started to push and pull him around.

"If we were dancing, this would be great," she told him. "Turn around and put your left arm around my waist."

"Isn't that a dancing position too?" he asked in amusement.

"Probably, but this is better than making you walk backwards," she answered.

"I'm no Fred Astaire," he admitted.

"Ginger Rogers was a better dancer," she countered. "She did everything he did in reverse, while wearing heels and a long skirt."

"I can't really argue with that," he said.

By the time she got him the way she wanted, he was standing beside her, left arm around her waist and his right arm across his body. She had a death grip with her right hand on his right hand and her left holding onto the arm around her waist.

"Ok, here we go," she said shakily.

Very slowly they shuffled across the floor. Stephen tried to move them faster, but a hiss of pain and her starting to push away stopped him. He mumbled an apology and let her set the pace.

"May I ask you a question?" Stephen inquired as the made their way at a snails pace.

"No," Ari replied and he could hear the pain in her voice. "Bathroom first."

"Ok, then," he said and they continued on in silence.

By the time they made it the short distance to the washroom, her face was nearly white as a sheet and she was trembling. Sweat was beaded on her forehead and upper lip while her breathing was a bit labored. She grabbed the door jam and pushed away from him.

"Are you all right?" he questioned.

"I will be," she assured him while she turned on the light. "Thank you."

With that, she moved into the bathroom, holding onto whatever she could and shut the door. Stephen contemplated what to do next when he saw movement out of the corner his eye. He turned his head just in time to see the Cloak shoot out from under the covers and through the still open portal.

"And where do you think you're going?" Stephen demanded as he followed the relic through the gateway. "Get back here!"

Of course, the magical object didn't respond to him. The man made it through the portal in time to watch it open his bedroom door and disappear down the hallway. Damn French door handles. Stephen gave chase, but by the time he made it to the door, the Cloak was long gone.

The sorcerer went in search of his relic. He checked every room, top to bottom and came up empty. Stephen returned to his room, confused and frustrated and entered just in time to watch Ari throw his robe and slippers to his side and close the portal.

"Ok, then," Stephen grumbled at his belongings strewn across the floor.

* * *

After finding some relief, Ari exited the bathroom to find Dr. Strange was no longer there. However, the gateway he had opened up was still active. She gave out a snort and shook her head at the rookie mistake.

Ignoring the open portal that lead into what appeared to be the good doctor's bedroom, she slowly and carefully made her way back to her bed. She was trembling and the site of her incision burned like hell as she crawled past the side rail. She laid there gasping in pain, hoping it would pass soon.

Once it no longer felt like her internal organs were about to explode out of the sewn up hole in her belly, she gingerly got out of the robe and slippers the handsome man had lent her. She was deciding where to stash them when she heard someone in the hallway. Knowing that were was no way for her to explain how she got the clothing or why there was a magical gateway in her room, she threw the borrowed items back through the portal and shut it. She saw Strange's startled face briefly before the magical opening dissipated.

A moment later, a nurse came in and saw her patient sitting up in bed.

"Well, good morning!" the other woman cheerily greeted.

"Morning," Ari returned as she grabbed the covers and pulled them over her legs.

"I'm Jackie, I'll be your nurse this morning," the younger woman stated.

"I'm Ari Post," Ari replied.

"Great! Let me just write that down," Jackie said.

The younger woman took a pen out of her pocket and braced Ari's file on the night stand. Luckily the nurse was too busy with the paperwork to notice another portal starting to open up behind her. Ari saw it and quickly threw a counter spell at it to stop it.

She had a pretty good idea who was trying to get into her room. Since scaring the poor woman would serve no purpose, Ari put up a fast and dirty ward around her room. It wouldn't stop someone who was really determined to get in. She just hoped the good doctor would get the message and wait a bit.

With a grimace and a tired sigh, Ari laid back and prepared to be poked and prodded and asked all sorts of questions.

* * *

Steven stared in bewilderment at the space where the portal was supposed to be. He had tried a few times now and each time it had failed because there was a ward in the way. Maybe it was time to find that spell that would let him get past the blasted things.

Stephen was down the stairs and through the magical membrane between his home and Kamar-Taj within a few moments. He was less than amused with everything that had been going on and was going in full steam ahead. The lack of sleep wasn't helping his temper.

"Wong!" Strange nearly bellowed upon entry of the Library.

"Do you ever sleep, Stephen?" Wong asked the sorcerer as the taller man came around a corner.

"It's been known to happen from time to time," the Master of the New York Sanctum snarkily replied. "I need to see the spell to get past a ward."

"What for?" the Librarian questioned.

"Ari put one up and I want to know why," Stephen grumbled. "I'd also like to know how she got past the ones on the Sanctum."

"Who's Ari?" the bewildered shorter man inquired.

"My mystery woman finally woke up," Stephen informed the other man. "Her name is Ari Post. None of the files you gave me were for her."

"I warned you of that," Wong reminded him. "Are you sure her name is Ari Post? I don't remember ever seeing a file for someone by that name."

"I'm sorry, I didn't ask to see ID," Stephen huffed. "Last I checked, they don't have pockets on hospital gowns."

"What happened?" Wong inquired.

Stephen spent a few minutes telling Wong about his meeting with the woman. He was still miffed by her closing his portal and then blocking him. What had that been about?

"Where's the Cloak of Levitation?" Wong suddenly asked.

"That's another thing!" Stephen exclaimed in frustration. "The blasted thing was complete obsessed with her. Actually stayed with her while she slept. Now that she's awake, POOF! It ran off and is now hiding somewhere."

"Let me get you that book," Wong said.

The Librarian quickly went to retrieve the book. It was sometimes better to just give the raging man what he wanted before he went searching for the tome himself. While Stephen had never damaged th books, he wasn't always good about putting them back. Wong wasn't sure why he thought taking on the role of the guardian of the Library would be a nice and quiet job.

* * *

Ari had endured being poked and prodded and being asked a million embarrassing questions. Good thing she had years of answering with believable stories. This one wasn't even all that far from the truth. In the end, it had paid off.

She was now holding a bag with the few meager possessions they were able to save. Her one thought was getting to her kids and making sure they were safe. She dumped everything onto the bed and started sorting things out.

The five dollar bill with her blood dried on it and the house key were put on the nightstand next to the pain pill she had been given. After making sure there wasn't anything in her shoes, she chucked them toward the garbage can. All that was left were her three rings.

She quickly slipped them on and felt the tension in her shoulders relax a bit. She hadn't even been aware that she had been tensing up there. It didn't matter now. Now it was time to get her kids.


	4. Another Intrusion

**Author's Notes** : So, that really long scene that was too long for the last chapter I wrote out and realized it did nothing to move the plot along and was pretty much just my OCs and no Stephen. Dumped it and put Dr. Cheekbones back in his own story. Enjoy!

* * *

"And where do you think you're going with that book?" Wong demanded as Stephen started to head back home with the requested book in hand.

"I was just going to..." Stephen started, but stopped when he saw the death glare from the Librarian.

"What did I say would happen if any of the books went missing from this Library?" Wong asked, giving the other sorcerer The Look.

"But it wouldn't be missing, it would be..." Stephen didn't even bother finishing that sentence. "I'll just go sit down and read up on that spell, shall I?"

"That sounds like a _very_ good idea," Wong agreed as he went back to returning books to their proper places.

It didn't take Stephen long to find the spell that would allow him to get past a ward. Wong had been right, it did require quite a bit of power. Unless Ari was on par with the Ancient One, there was no way she should have been able to open a portal into his Sanctum and even the Sorceress Supreme needed a Sling Ring. Someone else had to have opened it for his uninvited guest.

Once he was sure he could preform the spell, he returned the book to Wong and headed back through the Library. No sooner had he passed through the membrane then he heard voices.

"Mom, this place is amazing," a young woman's voice said in a hushed tone.

"I could spend the rest of summer vacation just checking out the artwork," a young man stated, sounding equally reverent.

"Is this where we're staying?" the girl asked hopefully.

"Yes, this is an amazing place and I don't know if we're staying here," Ari answered. "I keep showing up uninvited, so probably not."

Stephen was less than pleased. Not only was his uninvited guest back, but she brought friends. No, wait, one said 'Mom'. She brought her kids. Lovely.

"I'm warning you now not to touch anything that glows with no obvious power source, moves on its own or is weaponry or armor," Ari continued. "In fact, just avoid the top floor if I'm not with you."

"Very good advice," Stephen stated as he came around the corner.

Standing at the base of the stairs was Ari wearing a ratty old robe that might have been light blue once over her hospital gown. With her were an older teenage boy and girl, both of whom had their mother's eyes. Several pieces of luggage were sitting on the ground next to them.

"Hello, Ari," Stephen started. "I left you in a hospital room. How did you get out? How did you get in here? _Again_ , I might add."

"Dr. Strange, I'm so sorry to invade your home again," Ari started and he noticed that she was clutching the suture site. "These are my children, Brandon and Morgan. Kids, this is Dr. Stephen Strange, the Master of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum."

"The what?" the kids asked.

"My home," Stephen grumbled. "You didn't answer my questions."

"I know, please let me explain," Ari repeated. "I was attacked earlier this evening."

"That explains how you got hurt and I'm assuming that your hasty exit out of your body was because you went to warn your kids," he said.

"It was and I did," she confirmed. "The man who attacked me has been trained in the mystic arts and he came after my children."

"How did you open a gateway into my home?" he questioned.

"Dr. Strange..." she started.

"Stephen, please," he continued. "If you're going to keep showing up unexpectedly, we might as well be on a first name basis. There are wards on this building. How did you get past them?"

"Dr. Stephen Strange, as the former Master of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum, I am formally requesting your help!" Ari interrupted, her voice rising with impatience and desperation. "Please keep my children safe."

It took him a moment to absorb that information. Then he noticed from half way across the foyer that she was trembling, her face had gone ashy white and her breathing was labored. Before he could do anything, her legs started to buckle. A flash of red came down the stairs and the Cloak of Levitation was wrapped around the Sanctum's former Master, keeping her upright. Both kids jumped and let out yelps of shock.

"What was that about not touching things that could move on their own?" Brandon nearly squeaked and for someone about the size of a linebacker, that was something else.

"Mom, you're bleeding," Morgan worriedly stated, pointing at the blood that was starting to soak Ari's dressing gown.

"Either she has another wound that I don't know about or she's ripped out some of her stitches," Stephen stated as he quickly strode toward the woman.

"It probably happened when Dad grabbed her," Brandon told the older man.

"Does your father normally get physical with your mother?" Stephen asked unhappily as he pulled her hand away, opened her robe and saw the blood soaking the hospital gown.

"No, but they do fight a lot," the boy answered while Stephen carefully moved the hospital gown out of the way. "He usually avoids touching her. What are you doing?"

"Must make for a fun home life," the sorcerer muttered before continuing a bit more loudly. "I'm just checking to see if it is the sutures and it is."

With a twist of his hand, he produced yet another pressure bandage. He applied it to the wound and the Cloak once more obliged by holding it in place. Stephen looked up at Ari's face and saw her staring at the relic crying while it wiped away her tears.

"Ari?" Stephen softly called.

"How did you get out?" Ari whispered before her eyes rolled back and her body went lax.

"MOM!" the kids yelled.

"Stop!" Stephen ordered as the boy reached for his mother. "I've got to get her back to the hospital."

He quickly slipped his Sling Ring onto his left hand. Then he turned and opened a gateway into her hospital room. He thanked the multi-verse that she had taken the ward down as he wasn't really in the mood to try out the new spell just yet.

"Ok, so you can do that thing, too," Brandon said, his voice quivering.

"Your mother opened a gateway," Stephen confirmed.

"A few of them," Morgan told him, pointing at his left hand. "She has one of those weird ring things too."

Stephen turned to the unconscious woman. He tried to get to her left hand, but the Cloak had it covered and it wasn't budging. Stephen didn't bother arguing with the blasted thing, just pointed to the portal.

"Come on," Stephen ordered the relic.

Fortunately, it simply floated toward the magical opening, gently cradling the woman. When the kids started to follow, Stephen put his hand out to stop them.

"You two should stay here," Stephen instructed. "I'll be right back."

"But Mom..." they started, both clearly upset.

"Has to have surgery again," Stephen stated unhappily. "Unless one of you two is suddenly named Doogie Howser, it's best to let the professionals take care of her."

Without another word, the sorcerer marched after the Cloak.

"Who's Doogie Howser?" Brandon asked and Morgan shrugged.

* * *

Wong scowled at the book in his hands and he snapped it shut in frustration. It wasn't giving him the information he wanted and it really irked him. Then he remembered that the book he was looking for would be kept in the New York Sanctum.

The memory of how the Cloak of Levitation had been acting had been bugging him all afternoon. With Stephen's latest visit, it made the Librarian want to know more about the relic. However, the book that listed all of the relics that was kept in his Library only gave a description of the item's ability, where it was currently located and its current master, if it had one.

Wong was interested in the history of the Cloak, not its abilities. The book with that information would be found where the relic was kept. Which meant that Wong was now on his way to the New York Sanctum. It gave him a bit of perverse pleasure knowing that he was about to invade Stephen's territory for a change.

His amusement was short lived, however. As soon as he rounded the corner, he saw a gateway was open in the foyer and a young man and woman stood staring into it. They didn't notice him at first and Wong started toward them. The young lady saw him first causing her to jump as she let out a yelp of surprise. The young man turned to see what had startled her and took up a defensive stance beside her.

"Who are you?" Wong demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Our mom brought us here," they answered and Wong quickly realized that they were younger than he originally thought.

"Who's your mother?" the older man questioned.

"Ari Post," they replied guardedly.

"I thought she was in a hospital," the Librarian said in surprise.

"I thought so, too," Stephen nearly growled as he crossed the threshold of the portal. "Turns out she had a Sling Ring."

The Cloak was back on the taller man's shoulders, he was carrying a blood stained robe in one hand and his other was clutched into a fist. He closed the portal with the hand carrying the dressing gown and opened the other at the same time. He said nothing, but stared in confusion at what was in his palm. In it was three plain, wide banded brass finger rings.

"Stephen, those are regular rings, not a Sling Ring," Wong told the other sorcerer and was rewarded with a blue-green eyed glare.

"Those are Mom's rings," Morgan said as she came over and looked at the tall man's hand. "She never takes them off."

"It was a Sling Ring when I pulled it off of her," Stephen grumbled.

"Is Mom going to be okay?" the girl asked, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

Stephen looked down at the teenager. Her eyes were blood shot and if she had been wearing any makeup earlier, it was gone now. He looked over at her brother and could see the boy wasn't doing much better.

"She'll be fine," he assured the two. "The nurse was on her way in as I left. When was the last time you two got any sleep?"

"Night before last," they replied.

"Grab your things, there are some spare rooms upstairs," Stephen instructed.

"But Mom said..." they began.

"Your mother is no longer the Master of this Sanctum," the sorcerer retorted. "I am and if I say you can stay, you can. Besides, your mother asked me to keep an eye on you, so you're staying here. Get your things."

The kids tiredly picked up their belongings and Stephen noticed a couple of bags still on the floor.

"What about those?" Stephen asked.

"Those are Mom's," Morgan answered as she picked up the smaller bag while her brother got the larger one. "I can do it."

"Here, I'll take them," Stephen swiftly offered.

The sorcerer all to well remembered the petty bickering between himself and his siblings. He hadn't gotten enough sleep to put up with someone else's kids fighting. He quickly took Ari's bags and then led the teenagers upstairs.

He got them settled into separate rooms as fast as he could. Before he could decide where to put Ari's things, the Cloak picked him up and carried him down the hallway to the room across from his own. He didn't even have to open the door as the relic did it for him.

"Ok, then," he muttered as he stepped into the room. "I get it. This was her room."

He dropped the duffel and messenger bags on the bed and tossed the robe on top of them. He took a brief look around, but there was nothing special about this bedroom compared to the others he had seen. In fact, it was pretty much a mirror copy of his own room.

A huge bed, a couple of nightstands, dresser and desk were it for the furniture. He could see through the door leading to the attached bathroom. With a wave of his hand, the curtains opened up and let in early morning sunlight. When Stephen turned to leave, he saw Wong waiting for him in the doorway.

"Did you say that Ari used to be the Master of this Sanctum?" the Librarian asked.

"That's what she said earlier when she asked me to protect her kids," Stephen replied as he exited the room. "She knew the Cloak used to be in a case as well. She asked it how it got out."

"Come with me," Wong instructed as he turned and walked away.

Somehow, Stephen wasn't too surprised when they ended up in the Sanctum's library. Most of the books were on the various artifacts and relics kept there. However, Wong went for the latest book in a set and Stephen recognized the books on the history of the Sanctum. What the Master of the Sanctum wasn't expecting was for Wong to pull out a second book.

"I can understand looking to see if Ari was really a Master here, but why get out the one on the Cloak?" Stephen asked.

"You mean you haven't looked up the history of your own relic?" Wong demanded.

"Well, I looked up what it's capable of," Stephen replied a bit sheepishly. "I've been a little busy to look up all of its past Masters."

"I don't suppose she told you _when_ she had been the Sanctum's Master," Wong grumbled.

"Nope," Stephen confirmed.

"I suggest that you start with the last Master of the Cloak," Wong said as he handed the books over to Sanctum's Master. "It was in that case for quite some time before you came along."

Without another word, the Librarian left.

* * *

Stephen stood staring at the Cloak's empty case. He had gone through the books that Wong suggested, but they left him with more questions than answers. Talking to the Librarian hadn't given him any answers. A search of her bags hadn't helped either, though when he went through her old room, he did find an interesting clue. The person who could answer his questions was in a hospital bed several miles away, but maybe her children could fill in some of the blanks.

He heard a door open on a lower floor and he knew at least one of the kids was up. He made his way down to their rooms to see Morgan emerge from her room and Brandon already standing in the corridor. They had both showered and dressed in clean clothes, with the boy looking like he was about to go for a nature hike and his sister ready to go shopping. Both still appeared pretty tired.

"Afternoon," Stephen greeted as he walked up to them. "Hungry?"

"Starved," they replied.

"Do you two always talk in unison?" the sorcerer asked, remembering from that morning how they talked in sync.

"No," the twins answered and then turned to glare at each other.

"How about some lunch," Stephen quickly offered.

With one last scowl at each other, the teenagers followed Stephen down to the dining room. With a simple movement of his hand, the table was set. He didn't see them stopping dead in their tracks, staring at the table with their eyes nearly falling out of their heads.

"What would you like?" Stephen asked as he walked around the table. "Soup?"

With a wave, bowls of steaming soup appeared. The teenagers didn't reply right away.

"Salad?"

Another pass of his hand and there were salads where the soup had been.

"Perhaps sandwiches," Stephen continued, making another change to the menu.

"What...how..." Morgan stuttered.

"Ok, not sure I'm tripping or having a really vivid dream," Brandon stated.

Stephen finally noticed the shell shocked faces of his guests.

"Didn't your mother ever use magic in front of you?" Stephen questioned.

"Before last night, we never knew she could," Morgan told him, sounding on the verge of freaking out.

"Considering how blatant she'd been using it earlier, I'm surprised that she was able to hide it from you all this time," the sorcerer stated unhappily as he took a seat. "How do you live with someone and not know this?"

"We don't live with our mom," Brandon responded.

"We live with our dad," Morgan added. "Mom left when we were really young, so Dad got full custody."

"Tell me about your mom," Stephen requested and gestured toward the empty seats. "Sit down and eat. I promise, I didn't put any spells on the food."

The kids were hesitant, but did eventually take a seat at the table.

"Are sandwiches okay or do you want something else?" Stephen asked when the kids didn't start eating right away.

"Sandwiches are fine," they replied.

They both rolled their eyes, refused to look at each other and reached for their food. It finally dawned on the sorcerer that the siblings were twins and he felt like kicking himself for not figuring it out sooner. He watched them, mindful of any magic they might possess. There was some there, but it was completely untrained.

"Tell me about your mother," Stephen requested again after they had finished about half of their meal.

"Not much to tell," Brandon said with a shrug.

"Not sure how much is real and how much she made up," Morgan added.

"What did she tell you?"

"Her parents died in a car accident when she was twelve," Brandon began. "She was raised by some spiritual leader."

"When she was in her twenties, she got a job in New York where she met Dad," Morgan continued. "When I asked her what she did, she said she used to save the world. I always thought she was pulling my leg."

"When we were about three, she just left," Brandon went on. "Dad would only say she went away, never said why, just that she had to leave. We moved to California shortly after that. Right before we started kindergarten, she showed up on our doorstep. Shocked the hell out of Dad."

"They had a huge argument in another room," Morgan added. "Dad did at least. I remember him yelling a lot, but Mom never raised her voice. When Mom left, Dad looked really pissed off,"

"Dad had enrolled us in this really exclusive private school and on the first day we found out Mom was the school secretary," Brandon continued. "Dad wasn't happy about it, but he had spent too much money to pull us out."

"They sort of had this uneasy truce going," Morgan unhappily stated. "Until last night."

"Tell me about last night," Stephen gently prompted.

Morgan started with the trip to the Macy's restroom and the encounter with her mother's astral form. Brandon picked up the story when Morgan had trouble continuing. Stephen did more than listen, he watched.

The potential was there and it moved from one twin to the other. He doubted they even realized that they were supporting each other on a mystical level and it was completely untrained, just instinctual. He had to wonder again why Ari hadn't been working with them to develop their abilities. He wasn't really getting the answers he needed, just more questions.

Stephen listened as they told them how after they had taken up shelter in their mother's apartment, she had opened a gateway into said apartment before taking them back to their father's place. He did his level best not to let his anger get the best of him when they told him how their parents fought while the kids got their things. The teenagers had just entered the room when they saw their father grab their mother and give her a good shake.

"I've never heard Mom scream like that before," Morgan softly said as she hugged herself and tears ran down her face. "I didn't know what to do. Then Mom just glowed and Dad flew across the room."

"Dad was really pissed after that," Brandon continued, also upset, but managing to hold it together better than his sister. "I had to stand between them so Mom could open another portal thing."

"How did your father react to that?" Stephen asked.

"He was screaming mad," Morgan answered with a soft snort. "Dad started yelling about calling the cops. What did Mom say?"

"'They're eighteen'," Brandon replied. "'They have the right to know the truth about what really happened fifteen years ago'."

"That's when we left and came here," Morgan finished.

"When did you two turn eighteen?" Stephen questioned.

"Today," they answered which was followed by identical eye rolls.

"Happy birthday," Stephen said.

"Thanks," they replied and turned to glare at each other.

"Are you two done eating?" Stephen interrupted.

"Yeah," Brandon responded.

"Yessss," Morgan hissed at the same time.

The twins were still glaring at each other when Stephen cleared the table with a wave of his hand.

"How about we go see your mom," Stephen suggested and that got them to turn their attention to him.

"Are you going to do one of those magical door things?" Morgan asked a bit excitedly.

"Do you want me to?" the sorcerer inquired, his eyebrows going up a bit.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool," Brandon admitted with a lopsided smile.

"Let's get your mother's things and then we'll go," Stephen said as he stood up. "The hospital would appreciate seeing she has medical coverage. I'm pretty sure your mom would also like to have her own clothes to wear. I know from personal experience how breezy those hospital gowns are."

"I can do that," Morgan stated as she and her brother got to their feet. "Where'd you put her stuff?"

Stephen told her and she was out of the room in a heartbeat. The sorcerer glanced at Brandon and saw the magic potential go dormant once Morgan was out of the room. That was curious.

The two men followed the young lady at a more sedate pace and waited for her in the foyer. They didn't have to wait long before Morgan came charging down the stairs with her own purse over one shoulder, her mother's messenger bag over the other while stuffing some clothing into said bag.

"Ready?" Stephen asked as he slid his Sling Ring onto his hand.

"Yes!" the twins quickly replied.

"One quick question," Stephen said. "Do you know anyone named Aurora Rose?"

"No," they answered.

"Unhun," the older man mumbled.

Without another word, the sorcerer opened a gateway that would take them to the hospital.

* * *

Ari was bored stiff and mad at herself at the same time. It was bad enough that it was her own fault that she gotten sliced open, but to get her stitches ripped out because of her mountain of an ex-husband was just literally adding insult to injury. Never, in the past twenty plus years of knowing him had he ever tried to physically hurt her, so she hadn't been prepared for his attack. She doubted he would be trying that stunt again.

She picked up the TV remote and flipped through the channels in hope that maybe something watchable had come on in the last ten minutes. Alas, afternoon programming wasn't meant to stimulate the intellect. When she paused on one talk show, she was pretty sure she could feel brain cells dying.

She turned off the set and contemplated reclining the bed to take either take a nap or count the ceiling tiles. She wasn't sure which yet. A gentle knock at her door got her hopes up that her kids were finally going to show up. Not that she left instructions, but she liked to think one of her offspring would have the wherewithal to at least bring her wallet to her so she didn't get stuck with a huge medical bill.

Instead, a pretty redheaded lady pushed the door open. She was younger than Ari probably by a good ten years. She looked familiar, but Ari couldn't put a name to the face.

"May I come in?" the stranger requested.

"Please do," Ari replied and the other woman stepped into the room. "I'm sorry. I'm sure I know your face, but I'm completely blanking your name."

"Well, we weren't exactly introduced last night," the lady told her. "I'm Dr. Christine Palmer."

"Right!" Ari exclaimed. "Sorry, I didn't have time to stick around and sorry I scared you."

"It's ok, I'm getting used to it," Christine replied. "Stephen's done that to me, too."

"Now there's a man I wouldn't mind playing doctor with," Ari stated with a smirk.

"Oh, uh, um..." Christine stuttered, looking rather embarrassed.

"And I just said that in front of his girlfriend, didn't I?" Ari asked, feeling her own cheeks heat up.

"Um, no, we're not dating," Christine quickly assured her.

"Friends with benefits?" Ari questioned.

"Nope," Christine answered. "It's..."

"Please don't say complicated," Ari interrupted.

"Complicated," the lady doctor finished.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry," Ari commiserated.

"It's okay," Christine sighed. "It's probably for the best."

"Well, before we get into any more sharing of what colossal dunderheads men can be," Ari said. "Any idea how to reach Dr. Cheekbones?"

"Why?"

"I left my wallet at his place and I have a feeling the hospital would like my medical information," Ari replied.

"Yes, I'm sure it would make the bean counters happy," Christine agreed. "I can email him, but I don't have a phone number for him. Could you do that astral ghost thing again?"

"Not easily," Ari admitted. "Astral projection was never my strong suit and there's no guarantee that he's home. If he's not, he could be anywhere."

"Oh, ok," Christine responded. "Then I'll go send that email."

"Thank you," Ari replied.

"Just try not to fall out of the bed and rip all your stitches out again, please," Christine requested in a teasing tone.

"I make no promises," Ari chuckled before she let out a painful hiss and put a hand over her wound. "Ok, laughing is probably not a good idea."

Before Christine could say anything, the door burst open.


	5. Hospital Visit

Stephen was doing his level best not to open a portal and run away. Battling inter dimensional monsters, not a problem. Taking on a galactic being who had the powers of a god, piece of time looped cake!

However, listening to two teenagers whine and complain about why they had to go through the front doors of the hospital, instead of just opening a gateway into their mother's room, was beyond maddening. Dealing with all of the administrative stuff to see their mother was enough to make the sorcerer want to vacate to another dimension. Permanently.

Luckily, someone on staff recognized the good doctor and was able speed things along. While it was a blessing that got them past reception, Stephen still was tempted to leave the kids to their own devices. If their mother hadn't asked him to keep them safe, he'd be sorely tempted to do so. Damn moral ethics.

After what seemed like an eternity, they were finally on their way up to see Ari. Stephen wondered if taking on Dormammu without the Eye of Agamotto would have been easier than watching over these two. How the hell did his mother not kill him when he was a teenager?

No sooner had they reached the right floor than the twins were charging down the hallway toward their mother's room. Stephen quickly explained to the nurses who they were and the patient they were going to see. Luckily, good old fashion charm and fast talking worked like magic and kept the ladies from calling security.

By the time Stephen made it to Ari's room, the twins were having a regular hug-fest with their mother. Morgan was on the side toward the door and Brandon had gone around to the far side of the bed in front of the window. A rather shell shocked Christine Palmer was standing just inside the door watching them.

"Christine," Stephen softly called and she turned toward him, her cheeks suddenly turning a bright pink. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," she assured him a bit quickly and then she frowned slightly. "You didn't leave another gateway open in the mop closet, did you? I told you that it's freaking out the janitors."

"No, we actually came through the front door," he assured her.

"While wearing that?" she asked, pointing at his clothes as she tried not to laugh.

"What's wrong with this?" he questioned, looking down at himself in all his sorcerer's finery.

"Seriously, Stephen?" she countered, not bothering to hide her grin. "I know you like to be the center of attention, but you look like your auditioning for the Avengers."

"Oh, please," he scoffed. "They'd be lucky to have me. Besides, this is New York. I could stand in Times Square wearing nothing but Star Spangled Speedos while singing Yankee Doodle Dandy and the only people who'd notice would be the tourists."

Christine got a look on her face that suddenly had the sorcerer worried.

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?" she inquired with a wide grin.

"And now I'm regretting my choice of words," Stephen mumbled.

"You know, you did miss my birthday," she pointed out, that toothy smile still plastered to her face.

"I was in Kathmandu and I did send you an email," he defended. "Which you didn't respond to."

"Christmas is coming," she pointed out, grin still firmly in place.

"In six and a half months," he countered before stepping closer and dropping his voice. "I've missed you, too."

"So, she left her wallet at your place, huh?" she stated a bit nervously as she indicated the lady in the hospital bed.

"Want to know what else she left at my place?" Stephen asked.

"What?" Christine replied defensively.

Was that jealousy he heard?

"Her kids," he grumbled, pointing toward the teenagers all but crawling into the bed with their mother.

"So, she showed up with her kids in the middle of the night?" she asked. "You couldn't have asked them who she was? They couldn't have given you her wallet?"

"No, she brought them and her bags to me from California this morning," he answered.

"Wait," she stammered. "What? How?"

"She opened a few magical gateways to get them to me," he filled in.

"But wouldn't she need one of those ring things you have?" she demanded.

Without saying a word, Stephen took Christine's right hand in his left while he fished something out of the pouch on his hip. He pulled out three brass ring and after quickly examining them, he slid one on each of her index, middle and ring fingers.

"Not really my style," she told him in confusion.

He gave a small smile as he passed his right hand over hers. She gasped as she felt the strange tingle of magic and the sensation of one ring sliding sideways off of her ring finger while the other two merged. When Stephen pulled his hand away, Christine found herself staring at a Sling Ring.

"Cleverly hidden in plain sight," he stated as he pulled the ring off of her digits and then watched them turn back to three rings. "She was wearing these last night. I saw the nurse catalog them before you stitched her up. She must have convinced someone to bring them to her after she first woke up."

"So, ripping her stitches out didn't happen because she fell out of bed, did it?" she questioned unhappily.

"No, that was caused by her ex-husband grabbing her and shaking her," he replied in near anger and lady in front of him stared at him in horror. "Yeah, I want to give him a physical exam that he won't soon forget, too."

"And when was the last time you gave someone a physical?" she inquired with an eyebrow raised.

The lopsided grin he gave her made _her_ instantly regret her words. She was fairly sure she could fry an egg on her cheeks if the heat she was feeling was anything to go by. She needed to get out of there before she embarrassed herself any further.

"I need to get to work," Christine hastily stated as she turned toward the exit.

"Christine, I'm sorry," he said softly, touching her arm to keep her from going.

"For what?"

"Everything."

"So, global warming? Homelessness? Gum disease?" she teased.

"Sure, why not?" he laughed and she chuckled with him.

"I really do need to get ready for my shift," she told him and he sighed in resignation.

"Oh my god!" Brandon exclaimed, pulling the doctors attention to the other people in the room. "I did not see that! I did _not_ just see that!"

The kids were no longer hugging their mother and Brandon had a look of horror on his face. Morgan had her mother's bag on the bed and appeared to be pulling clothing out of it. Stephen could see Ari quickly grabbing something small, red and lacy off of the bed covers.

"You should be glad I didn't grab the matching bra that went with it," Morgan teased her brother.

Christine chose that moment to make her exit and Stephen was tempted to follow her.

"Stop it both of you!" Ari softly snapped. "This is a hospital. There will be no yelling."

"I'm so going to need therapy," Brandon moaned while his mother shoved the item, and Stephen was pretty sure he knew what it was, into her bag.

"Morgan, please take my things into the bathroom," Ari instructed as the woman threw back the covers and the girl quickly moved off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Stephen asked.

"I'm going to get out of this miserable thing with the breezeway up the back and get some real clothes on," Ari replied as she carefully swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Since getting changed right here will probably cause a certain young man to have fits of epic proportions, I'm going to do it in the bathroom."

"Here, let me help you," Stephen offered.

As he stepped up to the woman, he felt the Cloak leave his shoulders. He looked over at the relic floating near the door. Then he heard a sigh and turned back to the woman. He knew the look of pain on her face had nothing to do with her physical condition.

"Aurora Rose," Stephen said softly and Ari looked up at him.

"The man who attacked me last night called me that name," Ari told him quietly. "As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Aurora Rose died thirty-five years ago."

"Did she?" Stephen inquired as he stepped up to her and put his hands out like he had that morning.

"Not here," she replied while she laid her hands on his forearms. "Not now."

"Then when?" he questioned as she carefully slid off the bed. "Where?"

"When I'm someplace safe and not so public," she answered with a hiss of pain.

"Oh god, you're not wearing anything under that," Brandon nearly shouted as he quickly turned and faced the other direction.

"What did I say about yelling," Ari quietly snarled at her son.

"Standard operating procedure of all hospitals when they get an unconscious patient in immediate need of medical attention is to remove the clothing as quickly as possible," Stephen informed the teenager while he moved to Ari's side.

"You saw my mom naked!?" Brandon gasped in horror.

"I'm a doctor," Stephen reminded the young man. "I've seen lots of people naked."

"What type of doctor?" Morgan asked, standing just outside the restroom.

"I'm a neurosurgeon," Stephen replied while he and Ari slowly shuffled toward the girl.

"But you're like Mom..." Brandon started, still refusing to turn around.

"You can use magic..." Morgan continued.

"Do you just magic people better?" Brandon finished as his sister pulled her phone out of her purse.

"Magic doesn't work that way," Ari answered as she and Stephen continued their way at the speed of rampaging turtles. "It can do lots of amazing things, but healing isn't one of them."

"Do they always do that?" Stephen softly asked Ari while Morgan furiously tapped away.

"Communicate in half sentences? Yes," Ari quietly replied. "When they're stressed, they talk in sync."

"They were doing that earlier," Stephen told her.

"Not too surprising," Ari stated. "After what they've been through in less than twenty-four hours, I'd have been surprised if they hadn't."

"OMG!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Seriously?" Ari grumbled.

"What?" the girl asked in confusion.

"Your father and I have had our disagreements about how you two should be raised, but I'm fairly sure we both taught you to use words," the mother retorted in exasperation.

"What _ever_ ," Morgan huffed and Stephen swore he could hear the teenager's eyes roll.

"What's so exciting?" Stephen asked.

"You!" the girl happily replied to the man. "You're world famous! Did you know you have a Wikipedia page?"

"Uh, yeah, I did," the doctor mumbled, chagrined at the reminder of what a self aggrandizing ass he had been.

"A sorcerer who's also a world famous neurosurgeon?" Ari questioned with some minor amusement as she looked up at the man beside her "Either you're an overachiever or something very bad happened."

"Oh my god!" Morgan gasped in horror, putting her hand over her mouth while staring at her phone.

"What is it?" Ari asked, her attention immediately on her child in concern. "What's wrong?"

"There was a car accident," the girl whispered, looking up at Stephen with a look of sympathy. "Your hands..."

"And that would be the very bad something," Ari said as she gentle squeezed his hands. "You're the one who's shaking, not me. What did you hope to find in Kamar-Taj?"

"A miracle," Stephen answered.

"And did you find it?" she inquired as they reached the bathroom.

"Yes," he replied after a few seconds with a small smile. "Just not the one I was expecting."

"It rarely is," she responded as she took hold of the door jam.

Ari shuffled into the bathroom as fast as she could, shutting the door behind her. The sound of the lock clicking soon followed.

"Is it safe to turn around now?" Brandon asked.

"Nope, never," Morgan responded without looking up from the small screen in her hand.

"Ten thousand comedians out of work and she's trying to be funny," the boy grumbled as he turned away from the window.

"Better than being funny looking," the girl shot back.

"Knock it off, you two!" Ari called through the shut door.

"I swear that woman has ears like a bat," Morgan softly grumbled.

"I heard that!" came the retort through the door.

Morgan looked at Stephen with an expression that said "See!" before turning back to her phone and the good doctor had to softly chuckle. He was sure the next few days were going to prove to be interesting. Without a word, he stepped towards the Cloak, reaching for it. He was relieved when it willingly went about his shoulders.

"What is that thing?" Brandon asked, pointing at the red garment.

"It's the Cloak of Levitation," Stephen answered.

"I'm pretty sure some laws of physics are being broken there," the boy muttered.

"PFFT!" his sister retorted, not even bothering to look up from her phone. "The laws of physics got turned on their collective heads when Thor showed up."

"Now what are you looking up?" Brandon nearly demanded as he looked over her shoulder.

"Things to do!" the girl excitedly replied, nearly jumping up and down. "Two weeks! We get to be in New York for two weeks! Can you believe it!?"

"Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that," the teenager said as his own phone came out.

Did she just say two weeks? Stephen was stuck with dealing with Ari and her kids for two weeks? He was still wrapping his mind around that when he heard the shower start.

"Ari?" Stephen called worriedly.

"I'm just washing my hair, not taking a shower," Ari assured the doctor.

"What would be the big deal if she took a shower?" Brandon questioned, barely looking up from his phone.

"Getting her stitches wet within the first forty-eight hours could cause an infection," Stephen replied.

"Oh," the boy grunted.

Stephen stared at the twins and took a really good look at them physically. Brandon with his short, curly, dark brown, hair stood several inches taller than the doctor and was built like a tank. Morgan with her almost black, straight hair down to her slim waist was nearly as tall as her brother. However, the wedges she was wearing on her feet meant that she was probably shorter than Stephen, but not by much. Their skin was just shy of cafe au lait brown which they most certainly didn't get from their mother.

Stephen had found Ari's driver's license when he went through her things earlier and knew the woman was just barely over five feet tall and it listed her hair as blond, not brunette. He had to wonder what their father looked like. However, all thoughts of genealogy left him when Morgan gasped so hard that it had to have hurt.

"Hamilton!" Morgan exclaimed just as the water in the bathroom turned off.

"Huh, what?" her confused brother inquired.

"We could see Hamilton!" Morgan almost squealed, excitedly looking at her twin. "You know, the musical!"

"Sorry, honey, not even magic will get you tickets to that," Ari called through the door.

"But why not?" the girl whined at the closed portal.

"Because the show has been sold out for months," Stephen explained. "I think the first available tickets are in January."

"Bet Daddy could get us tickets," Morgan softly grumbled as she scowled at her phone.

"Yeah, right," Brandon scoffed.

"He could!" she insisted, glaring at the boy.

"I'm sorry, are we taking about the same man who, despite your epic temper tantrums, refused to take us to New York for our sixteenth birthday?" he shot back, finally looking away from his phone to glare at her. "We spent a month in France and Italy just so you could go shopping and we wouldn't have to listen to your whining anymore. I doubt Dad has any contacts to get you those tickets."

"I didn't have temper tantrums," she huffed.

"You were screaming so loud the neighbors called the police because they thought someone was being murdered," he reminded her.

Stephen was going to have to listen to this for the next two weeks? He was again contemplating opening a portal and running very far away. Before he could start to reach for his Sling Ring, the bathroom door was forcefully opened.

"What part of 'knock it off' did you two not understand?" Ari snarled at her children with her wet hair dripping onto her shoulders and a towel wrapped around her body that was being held up by an arm with an ugly, jagged scar that went from shoulder to elbow. "We aren't doing anything touristy until I'm out of this hospital, got it?"

"We're adults now," Morgan argued. "We don't need you to hold our hands any more."

"This is the last time we're going to spend a vacation together," Ari nearly growled. "You either wait until I'm released from this hospital to go do sight seeing or I take you back to California and lock you in your father's house until we catch the creep that attacked us last night. Am I clear?"

"Yesss," the girl hissed petulantly.

Stephen was half expecting the door to slam when woman shut it. Fortunately, Ari retreated back into the bathroom with a quiet click. Morgan glared at the closed portal and Brandon stood there with his jaw hanging open.

"Congratulations," the boy finally said. "You managed to piss Mom off and we haven't even been here twelve hours. I think that's a new record. It usually takes at least two days before you get on her nerves."

"She can't really lock us in our house, can she?" Morgan asked Stephen.

"If she knows the right spells, and considering she used to be the master of a Sanctum, it's probably safe to bet that she does," the sorcerer responded. "So, yes, she could lock you in your house."

The teenager let out a huff and flounced over to the chair on the far side of the bed. The girl plopped down and scowled at nothing. Stephen wasn't sure when the last time he had seen someone flounce.

Brandon let out a long suffering sigh and rolled his eyes. He started to lift his phone back up and then stopped. He stared into space for a moment with a slight frown before turning his attention to the other man in the room.

"Dr. Strange, if you hadn't helped Mom last night, what would have happened?" Ari's son asked.

"If your mother hadn't gotten medical help, she probably would have bled to death," Stephen honestly answered.

The boy's face paled and he leaned against the wall. Stephen worried that the teenager was about to feint. Luckily, Brandon managed to gather himself enough to stand up straight about a minute later.

"Thank you, for saving our mom," Brandon said, his voice shaking only slightly.

"You're welcome," Stephen softly replied.

The sorcerer looked over at the other occupant of the room and saw that she had turned her back to them. She appeared to be looking at her phone again. The soft sniff that he heard told him that it was just a decoy.

It only took a few more minutes before the bathroom door to open again. Ari stood there, dressed in pajamas that were much too warm for New York in June, but he knew from experience, hospitals cranked up the AC in summer. Stephen could see that she was a bit pale and her eyes were slightly red and puffy. Her hair was at least combed out and no longer dripping wet.

"I don't know who invented fuzzy socks, but he or she is my new best friend right now," Ari stated with a small laugh as she wiggled her now warm toes.

"I know what you mean," Stephen responded with a smile of his own.

Brandon didn't say anything, but scooped his mother up into his arms, bridal style. Ari let out a surprised squeak, but didn't fight her son. She just wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

The young man carried the woman the short distance to the bed. He gently put her down, but she didn't let go. With a long suffering sigh, the boy just waited, bent over at the waist. Ari chuckled before she gave her son a kiss on the cheek and finally released him.

"So, now what?" Brandon asked as soon has he had straightened up.

"I need to go shopping," Morgan stated.

"For what?" Ari asked in a controlled tone of voice. "You were out shopping last night."

"I didn't have time to grab everything I needed last night when I packed," the girl explained. "And I wasn't shopping last night. I was hanging out with friends."

"Translation: Morgan hadn't packed for our camping trip yet," Brandon said snarkily. "Again."

"Enough, Brandon," Ari warned her son before turning to her daughter. "What did you forget and how soon do you need it?"

"Just about _everything_ ," Morgan replied. "I've only got a few days of clothes. I only have the makeup in my purse and none of my hair stuff. And I'm wearing the only pair of shoes I brought."

"I'm hardly in any shape to take you shopping," Ari pointed out.

"I can take her, if you like," Stephen offered.

Brandon turned and looked at the doctor like he had grown a second head. Ari let out a snort and then a hiss of pain as she put a hand over her suture site. Morgan didn't look overly happy about her family's reaction to Stephen's suggestion.

"Stephen, that's very kind of you, but even Captain America would have trouble keeping up with my daughter when she's on a shopping mission," the woman told the surgeon before turning to her female offspring. "Honey, how about I open a gateway to your room and you can get the rest of your things. We will find time to go shopping, but not right now. Okay?"

"Fine," Morgan grumbled as she stood up.

"Stephen, may I please have my rings back?" Ari asked pleasantly, holding her hand out.

"I don't have them with me," Stephen lied and Ari's eyes slightly narrowed.

"Then may I borrow your Sling Ring?" the woman requested.

"I can open a gateway for Morgan," the man offered as he reached for the item on his hip.

"Oh _really_ ," Ari replied in a voice so cold that it made ice seem warm.

A couple of things happened at once. The first, and quite possibly most worrying, was the Cloak flying off of the sorcerer's shoulders, into the bathroom and shutting and locking the door behind it. The other thing was the twins trying to put as much distance between themselves and the doctor.

"One or two?" Morgan asked as she stared at Stephen in horror.

"Stakes?" Brandon countered, not taking his own eyes off of the man.

"Breakfast."

"Okay."

"So, one or two?"

"One, no two. Definitely two."

"All right," Stephen muttered, confused by the strange behavior of the Cloak and the teenagers.

"Tell me, Dr. Strange," Ari started, sounding like a snake ready to strike. "How, _precisely_ , do you know what the inside of my teenage daughter's bedroom looks like?"

"I win!" Morgan triumphantly crowed.

"Fine," Brandon grumbled.

"Ah, okay," Stephen said, still confused as he unhooked his Sling Ring. "I guess you should do it."

The sorcerer handed the Ring over to the woman who still didn't look pleased with him. Without a word, she slipped the Ring on and opened the gateway. Once the aperture was at full size, Ari handed the Ring back.

"Please hurry, Morgan," Ari instructed her daughter. "Your father should still be at work, but there's no telling if whats-her-face is there."

Morgan quickly trotted through the gateway while Stephen was surprised by what he saw. The sorcerer expected to see pink and lace and posters of rock bands. Instead, the walls were covered with pictures of nebulas and star scapes with a personal telescope sitting in front of the window. There was even a framed poster of Neil deGrass Tyson on the wall with what appeared to be the scientist's signature near the bottom.

Morgan's room was a bit of a mess from what looked like hasty packing from last night. Clothes were strewn across the bed, partially blocking the bedspread of the Horse Head Nebula and the drawers on the dresser weren't fully closed. Stephen took it all in before turning to Ari.

"So, future scientist, huh?" the doctor inquired.

"Astrophysicist, to be precise," Morgan told him as she opened her closet.

"Pretty and smart," Ari proudly stated. "The guys at Harvard won't know what hit them. Maybe we can see Dr. Tyson while we're here."

"I checked, his only June shows are in North Carolina," the girl replied from the depths of her closet.

"Wait a minute..." Stephen started in confusion. "Doesn't she have another year of school left?"

"Dad enrolled us in kindergarten when we were four, so we graduated last month," Brandon explained.

"Nice," Stephen said. "Where you going?"

"University of Southern California," the boy replied. "I'm studying art."

At that moment, they heard the water turn on and then off in the bathroom. Ari let out a sigh of exasperation.

"You better get it out of there before it gets itself sopping wet," the woman instructed the doctor. "It's a right pain in the neck to get it dry."

"It can't be that difficult," Stephen scoffed as he walked over to the bathroom.

"Says the man who has obviously not tried stuffing a Relic with a mind of its own into a drier," Ari snorted.

Stephen didn't say anything since she was right. He hadn't dealt with a wet Cloak yet. With a wave of his hand, he unlocked to door only to have it immediately relock.

"All right," the sorcerer muttered.

"Try asking nicely," Ari suggested. "Let it know I'm not going to do anything dastardly to it."

"What?" Brandon asked, completely confused. "Why would it think you were going to be mean to it?"

"Long story," his mother sadly replied.

"Come out, please," Stephen requested of the door. "I promise I won't let her stick you in a box again."

There was dead silence in the room for a few seconds and then the door handle moved and the lock popped open. The humans waited as the door slowly opened.

"DADDY!"


	6. Drunk

**Author's Notes** **I** **:** A very big THANK YOU to darknesslost for helping me with my German.

* * *

Stephen spun round and stopped dead in his tracks. The man that stepped through the gateway had to be over six and a half feet tall and built like a brick wall. It was obvious that he hadn't showered or shaved that day and the jeans and grungy white t-shirt looked to have been slept in. With skin a bit darker than the Brandon's or Morgan's, hair that was almost midnight black and stormy gray eyes, there was no doubt that this man was the twin's father.

The man took a less than steady step toward the bed and Brandon immediately covered his mother's body with his own.

"No!" the father cried.

He crossed the room in one stride and grabbed his son. Stephen started to create a magic whip when he was nearly knocked off of his feet. The sorcerer was stunned when the Cloak wrapped itself around the attacking man's head.

"Cloak, no!" Ari ordered. "Hold!"

To Stephen's surprise and, if the look on her face was anything to go by, Ari's as well, the Cloak obeyed. The relic flipped itself over and cocooned the man from mouth to ankle. The man's shouts were muffled by the magical object as he struggled to break free.

"Brandon, please get off," Ari requested, pushing at her son. "Oh, calm down, Ronald. You're making spectacle of yourself."

Stephen could see Morgan just on the other side of the portal, clearly upset. Brandon didn't appear to be doing any better than his twin as he straightened up. Their mother looked like she was really to spit tacks.

"Morgan, are you done packing?" Ari asked while she carefully got out of the bed.

"Almost," Morgan answered, sounding lost and confused.

"Then please finish," Ari instructed as she took a careful step toward her ex.

The Cloak moved closer to its master and the woman stopped, leaning against the bed. She stared at the man floating with his bare feet barely off of the ground. Stephen caught a whiff of the unwashed man and something else.

"I smell alcohol," the sorcerer stated.

"Probably single malt Scotch," Ari grumbled as she glared at Ronald. "I certainly hope you didn't waste the good stuff on this drunken foolishness."

"Dad doesn't get drunk," Brandon scoffed, though he sounded a bit unsure. "He might have a drink every once and a while, but he never gets drunk."

"Only because I promised to push him into another dimension if he did it while you or your sister were around," Ari told him.

"Seems rather excessive," Stephen said.

"He's a mean drunk," Ari replied as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the immobilized man. "Even falling down and having less coordination than a newborn foal, he's not someone you want to be near when he's on a bender."

Ronald matched her gaze as he continued to try and break free. Stephen moved closer to Ari and those gray eyes were turned toward him. Ronald grunted something and Ari smirked.

"Dr. Stephen Strange, meet my ex-husband, Ronald Post," the woman said as she waved from one man to the other. "Ronald, meed Dr. Strange. The man who saved my life last night. Twice, no thanks to you."

Ronald made a strange sound as he stopped wiggling. The man looked around, taking in his surroundings. His eyes got rather large when he recognized where they were.

"Good, you're not so far into your cups that you can't understand," Ari stated, still sounding rather pissed off. "You knew this day would come, Ronald. I made no secret about it. You had thirteen years to get ready for this. You had every opportunity to tell them yourself. You have no one else to blame _but_ _yourself_."

Ronald let out a muffled bellow as he started to struggle again. It did him no good as the Cloak had no interest in letting the man go. Stephen turned to Ari to ask her something when a high pitched squeal stopped him.

"Ronny!" a woman shrieked as she ran through the gateway. "What did this horrid woman do to you!?"

Stephen wasn't sure what was worse: the woman's god awful fashion sense, the perfume that should have been peeling the paint off of the walls, the makeup that looked to have been applied by a nine year old, the head of bright over teased bleached blond hair or the voice that sounded like finger nails down a chalk board.

"Bunny!" Morgan shouted in surprise as she came up behind the woman.

"Buffy!" Brandon yelled, equally shocked by the woman's sudden appearance.

"Betty," Ari corrected, sounding about excited as having a hernia.

"Becky!" the woman squealed in indignation. "My name is Becky!"

"Whatever," the other three muttered with identical eye rolls.

"I've got everything," Morgan told her mother as she brought in a couple large, rolling pieces of luggage.

"Is there anything left in your room?" Brandon asked.

"I didn't have time to coordinate my outfits or decide what makeup or hair stuff to bring," the girl huffed. "Besides, Mom promised to take me shopping. I need to be able to carry it back in something."

"Enough, you two," Ari tiredly warned her offspring.

"So, now what?" Stephen asked, watching with amusement as Bunny-Buffy-Betty-Becky tried to free Ronald from the Cloak.

"Good question," Ari replied and then she got a look on her face as she chuckled low in her throat.

"Uh oh," Brandon nervously started.

"That's not a good look," Morgan continued worriedly.

"That's never a good look," Brandon agreed.

"Mom, what are you planning?" Morgan finished.

Stephen could only describe the look on Ari's face as delightfully evil. He wouldn't have been surprised if she started to laugh manically as she rubbed her hands together.

"Kids, why don't we show Dr. Strange your father's prize winning garden?" Ari sweetly suggested with a grin that would have made a shark swim away in fear.

"What?" the twins responded.

"Huh?" Stephen questioned.

"Trust me, his garden is _amazing_ ," the woman assured the doctor.

"All right," the sorcerer muttered.

"May I borrow your Sling Ring, Stephen?" Ari inquired.

"Why?" Stephen demanded.

"Because it would be easier to open a gateway into the yard then trying to get down the stairs," the sorceress explained.

"Okay," he hesitantly agreed as he handed her the small item.

It took her only a few moments to close one gateway and then open another one. Ronald started yelling, not that it did him any good while the Cloak continued to keep him muzzled. The strange woman squeaked in surprise before hiding behind Ronald.

Stephen had to admit, the garden they stepped into was amazing. The flower beds lining the path were all in bloom, not a weed in sight. The hedges were perfectly trimmed with not so much as a twig out of place. The lawn was so green and perfectly mowed that Stephen half expected it to be fake. Even the weather was perfect. The fact that this was the side yard made the doctor wonder how big the back area was.

"Ok, Mom, why are we here?" Brandon asked as his mother held onto his left arm.

"It's a really nice garden, but I have to agree with Brandon," Stephen stated.

"This is only a part of it," Ari told the doctor. "Wait until you see what's in the back."

Stephen, Ari and the twins slowly continued down the flagstone path. Stephen glanced back at the gateway and saw the Cloak was following them. Bunny-Buffy-Betty-Becky-whatever was pulling on the relic and just getting dragged along for her troubles.

Once everyone was through, the gateway closed. Ari handed the Sling Ring back to its owner and continued to shuffle along.

"I trust you can get us back to my room when it's time to go," the woman said.

"I think I can manage," Stephen agreed, still wondering what she was up to.

"Mom, what's the big deal about showing Dr. Strange..." Morgan started.

"Tut, tut!" Ari interrupted. "No spoiling the surprise."

"If I didn't think she was the queen of weird before..." Morgan mumbled and Ari grinned at her daughter, obviously amused.

As they slowly approached a break in the hedge, Stephen heard growling.

"Uh oh," Brandon mumbled.

"The dogs are out," Morgan quietly stated.

"Dad's gonna be pissed," Brandon continued softly.

Stephen turned to look back as muffled yelling filled the air. Ronald was struggling like never before and trying to shout something. The fashion disaster that had been trying to free the man was now climbing up the Cloak and screaming bloody murder.

"Babies!" Ari squealed happily as she carefully dropped to her knees and Brandon took a few steps back.

A second later, a pair of Doberman Pinschers came barreling around the hedge. They gleefully ran up to the woman's outstretched arms. Stephen watched in confusion as the animals that had been growling a few moments before were now acting like over excited puppies.

"Dad spent over ten grand on those dogs," Brandon explained while the canines excitedly bounded around the woman.

"Had them shipped all the way from Germany," Morgan continued as Ari got a thorough face washing while the woman talked nonsensical baby talk to the animals.

"Specially trained guard dogs," Brandon told the sorcerer.

"Turned into a couple of ninety pound puppies the instant they met Mom," Morgan finished.

Stephen watched as the dogs were now on their backs enjoying a good belly rub by Ari. He could see faint traces of magic on the dogs and knew that Ari was responsible. Stephen stepped toward the woman and the dogs were immediately on their feet, flanking her.

"Put your hand out so they can smell you," Ari instructed and the doctor hesitated. "It's okay, they won't hurt you."

"Uh huh," Stephen muttered uncertainly.

The dogs were staring at him intently and he wasn't sure if he wanted to put his already damaged hand near those powerful looking jaws.

"Stephen," Ari softly called to the man. "You've saved my life twice. I won't let them hurt you. I promise."

"Okay then," Stephen sighed as he put his left hand out.

"Freund," Ari commanded to the dogs.

"Excuse me?" Stephen asked a bit worriedly.

"I told them you're a friend," she explained as the dogs started to stiff the sorcerer's hand. "They were trained in German."

"You speak German?" Stephen questioned as one of the dogs licked his fingers. "They're not taste testing me, are they?"

"Please don't make me laugh," Ari replied after a snort and a short hiss of pain. "They like you, that's why they're licking you. I only speak enough German so they understand me."

"We really need to hurry up and get back," he stated as he held out his hands to her. "Someone's likely to notice we're missing."

"You're right," Ari agreed as she carefully got to her feet with his help.

"What exactly did you do to your ex-husband's dogs?" he asked as she took his left arm and they continued on their way.

"I just reminded them of the sweet animals they are, not the machines they were trained to be," she replied as the dogs gleefully raced up and down the path, avoiding their master.

The glare that Ronald was leveling at them should have left both sorcerers as piles of ash. The bleached nightmare was clinging to the trapped man and was nearly on top of him. Stephen wondered how much weight the Cloak could take.

"What exactly are we doing here?" Stephen asked as they neared the hedge.

"Teaching my ex a lesson," Ari replied with an evil grin. "And seeing if the Cloak still has it's wicked sense of humor."

"It's a relic, not a person," he reminded her.

"It may be a magical object, but it's very old," she pointed out. "It has a personality and a mind of its own. Haven't you encountered that yet?"

"A bit," he admitted.

"You are in for one incredible ride with the Cloak as your relic," she wistfully told him as they finally went around the hedges and into the next area of the yard.

"Wow," Stephen softly said as he stepped onto a gravel path.

For as neat and well manicured the side yard was, the backyard looked like they had just stepped into a meadow in the forest. A stack of rocks with water bubbling out of the top created a small waterfall that cascaded down into a little creek before feeding into a pond. The too perfect to be real landscaping actually went down into the clear liquid so there were plants growing in the water. They stood at the end of a dock that went out a good ten feet over the water, inviting one and all to run off of it and do a cannon ball. Only the house to one side and the privacy fence beyond a stand of trees broke the illusion.

"He has a pond in his backyard," Stephen stated.

"Actually, it's a custom made pool," Ari corrected. "The plants help keep it clean so it doesn't need chemicals."

Stephen was pushed into Ari as the Cloak went zipping past them. Before the doctor could say anything, the relic was over the water and unwrapped its prisoner. Ronald let out an angry bellow just before he hit the water. With a deft shake, the Cloak rid itself of its other passenger. She let out an ear piercing scream just before she went under.

"OW! OW! OW! OW!" Ari gasped as she tried to suppress her laughter and clutched at her stitches, clinging to Stephen's arm. "Oh, that hurts! That very much hurts. But it was so worth it!"

"You knew it was going to do that, didn't you?" Stephen asked with amusement as he held onto her to keep her from falling.

"I hoped it would," the woman admitted with an ear to ear grin.

"That wasn't nice, Mom," Morgan grumbled.

"Damn funny though," Brandon chuckled and Morgan glared at him. "Admit it, sis. You've wanted to push her in the pool from day one."

"Push her in and hold her under," the girl muttered. "Who taught her to put on makeup? Bozo the clown?"

"With wardrobe by the nineteen eighties rejects collection," the boy added.

"And hair by Fright Wigs R Us," she sarcastically ended.

"YOU WITCH!" Ronald shouted as he hauled himself out of the pool.

The Cloak wasted no time pushing the raging man back into the water. An angry yell proceeded the splash.

"Stephen, you might want to convince the Cloak to behave before it becomes completely sopping wet," Ari suggested as she let go of the man's arm.

"You evil bitch!" Becky shrieked as she climbed out of the far side of the pool.

"Not yet," Ari calmly replied with a wicked smile. "Keep talking."

"How dare you do that to me!" the wet woman screamed as she put her hand over her lower abdomen. "You could have hurt my baby!"

Only the sound of birds chirping, water bubbling into the pool and the dogs playing nearby was heard for several seconds. The twins stood with their jaws hanging open, Ari's eyebrows were about to become one with her hair line and Ronald was stopped half way out of the water and staring at the fashion nightmare. Stephen just watched in confusion as he grabbed the Cloak by the collar and flipped it around his shoulders.

"Called it!" Brandon quietly crowed.

"Damn it!" Morgan mumbled in frustration.

"When did you get your vasectomy reversed?" Ari finally asked her ex.

"I didn't," Ronald growled, glaring at the other woman.

"You might want to get that checked," Ari suggested. "Again."

"You told me you were on birth control," the large man snarled at the other woman as he finished hauling himself out of the water.

"I-I-I-I am," Becky stuttered as she started to back up from the clearly furious man. "I was. It was a happy accident."

"Genghis! Khan!" Ronald yelled and the dogs started to run to their master.

"NEIN!" Ari shouted. "Hierher!"

The dogs scrambled to run over to Ari and flank her. Ronald, dripping water and looking ready to kill, spun around. He took one step toward her and the dogs put their cropped ears back and growled.

"You need to sober up before you do anything stupid," Ari stated, not the least bit intimidated by the man. "Becky, get your things and get out."

"You don't tell me what to do," Becky huffed.

"Fine, we'll leave and you can face Ronald and the dogs on your own," Ari replied with a shrug. "However, before you think you've got him over a barrel, you're not the first one to try this, he's drunk and he's angry. Oh, and the dogs hate you."

Becky opened her mouth, but stopped at the look on Ronald's face when he turned to glare at her.

"Get out," the giant man snarled.

"But…" Becky simpered.

"OUT!" Ronald roared.

Becky jumped and squeaked before turning and running for the huge house. The dogs started to get ready to give chase until Ari put a hand on their heads. No one said anything until the soaking wet woman was gone.

"I think it's time we headed back," Ari tiredly stated as she absently scratched the dogs ears. "Stephen, would you mind?"

"Not at all," Stephen replied as he put his on his Sling Ring.

"Why are you in a hospital?" Ronald asked, not looking all that steady on his feet.

"I was attacked last night," Ari answered as she waved Brandon over. "I ended up getting sliced open."

"Then you're not up to camping," he stated, sounding hopeful.

"The guy who came after me, went after the kids," she replied as she took her son's arm. "He could do magic. They're safer with me and Dr. Strange."

The mere mentioning of mystic arts made the large man's face pale. The fear was clearly etched on his face as Stephen opened a gateway.

"Where are they staying?" Ronald demanded, his voice slightly shaking. "Which hospital are you at?"

"I'm not sure what hospital, but the kids are staying with Dr. Strange at one-seventy-seven-A Bleecker Street," Ari calmly responded as she and her son started for the portal, the dogs trailing behind. "I believe you know the place."

"No, not New York," Ronald whispered in horror before getting angry. "How long have you known this guy?"

"Met him last night," Ari told him with a smile.

"WHAT!?" Ronald yelled.

"I know what your thinking," Ari calmly continued as she looked over her shoulder at the large man. "But it wouldn't matter if I had known him a day or a decade, I will always trust the person who protects a Sanctum to take care of our kids."

Ronald let out an incoherent shout just before he started toward them. He fell flat on his face before taking one step. He looked down at his feet and saw glowing bands wrapped around his ankles.

"Bleibt," Ari said to the dogs as she crossed from the California backyard into the New York hospital room. "See you in two weeks!"

"NOOOOOO!" Ronald screamed as the gateway closed.

The last thing they saw were the sad faces of the dogs.

"Well, that was awkward in a new way," Morgan grumbled as she plopped down in the only chair.

"Just be glad your dad wasn't really, really drunk," Ari said, the exhaustion and pain evident in her voice. "It could have been a lot worse.

Stephen turned to the woman and saw she was nearly white as snow.

"Ari," the doctor started.

"I'll be fine, Stephen," the woman assured him as Brandon helped her into bed. "Guess I over did it. Used to recover from these things a lot faster. Of course, that was twenty years ago."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Stephen asked.

"I just need food and rest," Ari replied. "Preferably in that order."

Stephen started to lift his hand, ready to wave some sustenance into existence when there was a soft knock at the door. An older lady wearing a doctor's coat stood there with a file in her hand.

"May I come in?" the stranger asked.

"Please do," Ari replied as she leaned back against the raised bed.

"I'm Dr. Lisa Combs," the woman started before spotting the brightly dressed man in the room. "Stephen! How are you?"

"I'm well, thank you," Stephen replied. "And you?"

"I'm doing great!" Dr. Combs responded.

"Not to interrupt a happy reunion," Ari started, drawing the attention of the two physicians. "But I'd really like the poking and prodding and asked embarrassing questions being done sooner than later."

"Right," Dr. Combs said as she approached the bed.

"Before we start, I'm allowed to have real food, right?" Ari asked the older woman.

"I don't see anything on your file that says you shouldn't," Dr. Combs answered after quickly going over Ari's file.

"Wonderful," Ari sighed before turning to Stephen. "Stephen, I have been craving a real New York pizza all day. Would you mind taking the kids with you?"

"I'm not hungry," Morgan softly grumbled.

"Me, either," Brandon agreed.

"I think I can find a pizza on my own," Stephen pointed out.

"Yes, I'm sure you can," Ari replied with a smile. "However, in order to save a small fortune on therapy bills, I think it best if the kids weren't here when Dr. Combs started to examine me."

"Suddenly, I'm hungry," Brandon stated as he bolted for the door.

"Me, too!" Morgan exclaimed as she quickly chased after her brother.

"All right," Stephen sighed. "I guess we're getting pizza."

Without another word, the sorcerer followed the teenagers.

* * *

 **Translations:**

Freund – friend

Nein – no

Hierher – come here

Bleibt- stay


End file.
